The Puppeteer's Play
by dreamflyer1100
Summary: She hated living. She hated boredom. She was scared. Scared of everything. So why was she chosen? Why is she the one? [Slightly heavy themes]
1. One Foot in the Grave

Chapter One

* * *

She hated living. But she loved it too. She loved it far more than she hated it. After all, what use was killing herself? She didn't have the courage to live but she also didn't have the courage to end it. She was the worst kind of coward.

So when it wasn't by her choice that she died, she felt relieved. Relieved in the fact that she hadn't done it herself. No one could blame her for it.

But then there was a spark. A spark of regret.

What about my family?

It's said that you can never really fully appreciate things until they're gone. And it was never truer for her until now.

As she felt herself bleeding out on the sidewalk, hearing the fading shrieking of people, she wanted to live. Never before had she wanted to live so strongly. And yet here she was. Dying from a gunshot wound to the chest.

"Do you believe in second chances? "a warbled voice asked in the back of her mind.

* * *

Melanie woke with a start. She looked around and saw nothing in the white expanse. She patted her chest. No wound.

"Hello," a voice greeted, sounding more like static than a voice.

"Hello?" Melanie asked.

"Do you believe in 2nd chances?" the voice crackled, making sure that Melanie knew it from before.

Melanie tilted her head. Was it right to answer truthfully?

"Yes," came the static.

"Then I guess... yes in a sense," she replied.

"In a sense?" the voice seemed displeased.

"I think you have to earn a 2nd chance. You have to work for it."

"Noble, indeed," the static hummed, thinking it over.

"Are you God?" Melanie asked.

"Not in your sense, no."

"What do you want with me?"

"You seem a lot more pro-active now than you were when you were alive."

"I'm dead so I guess... I don't know."

Melanie wasn't sure she really liked the static voice.

"I'm not really sure I like you either. But I think you're interesting."

"How? I'm so average."

"And that's where you're not quite right. But that's neither here nor there. I'm bored," the voice crackled again, tacking on a mechanical whirr at the end that sounded like sigh.

 _What does that have to do with me?_ Melanie thought.

"I'm going to give you a 2nd chance. With a new body. In a new world. Exciting, yes?"

"What if I don't want it?"

"Then too bad. I'm giving it to you anyway."

* * *

Eyes blinked open as the wind rushed through trees.

"Where am I?" Melanie mumbled, sitting up and looking around.

She was sitting in a patch of cool grass in the middle of a forest. Thick brown trunks sprouted up from the ground and branched off into leaves of dark green. The branches of the trees seemed to run together, allowing only minimal light onto the forest floor. As she looked down at her body, she noticed she was wearing some non-descript brownish-black pants and a simple black tee. Her feet were bare. And very pale.

Melanie hoisted herself up and absently noted that her body felt lighter. She followed the sound of running water and soon came to a brook of clear water filled with fish.

There was a grumble of hunger from her stomach as she remembered the taste of her mother's steamed fish.

As she approached the water, a slightly warped face in the babbling liquid made her stop.

A face as pale as untouched snow with big bright blue eyes stared right back at her. A messy mop of pure white hair sat on top of the person's head.

Melanie touched her face and the image mimicked her.

 _That's me?_ she wondered.

* * *

"You'll have a body of my making in this new world," the static told her, sounding like it was smiling. "It's one of my nicer creations."

"Do I have a say in it?" Melanie found herself asking.

"I've already added some features that I'm sure you'll appreciate, considering your identity before you were killed."

Melanie frowned. What did that mean?

"It means you can change gender."

What?

"You can change gender at will. Or be neither. Your choice."

Oh. Ok. That was something Melanie did actually appreciate.

"See? I'm nice."

Maybe.

* * *

So that was what the voice meant. It didn't matter what gender she chose. The face was so androgynous.

 _What am I right now?_

Melanie patted her chest but found nothing. Reluctantly, she patted her crotch as well. Nothing there, too.

"Am I neither, or a girl?" she wondered aloud.

Quickly glancing around to see she was alone, she pulled on the waistband of her pants. Nothing.

Literally nothing. No vagina, no penis. Nothing.

 _So I'm neither right now. Let's try being a girl._

Melanie watched as her crotch began to pull apart and form a vagina.

She patted her chest again, found that there was now some soft mounds (about a B cup) and smiled a little.

"Ok, I'll admit. This is cool."

 _Right now I feel more like a guy now so..._

Melanie felt her crotch area grow and get heavier. Her chest also flattened and gave way to harder muscle.

"Better."

* * *

"Something doesn't seem right. What kind of body is capable of changing genders on command?" Melanie asked, feeling wary of this seemingly great deal.

"A demonic one."

Melanie felt her breath catch. How, she wasn't sure, since she wasn't really capable of breathing at this point in time. "Demonic?"

"Not your silly interpretations of demons, no. More like... super-powered humans with something to prove," the static... giggled?

"And- hold on- you're just giving me a demon's body?"

"I made the body," the static pouted. "And yes, I'm giving it to you. Not for free, of course, but it's not like you'll have to do anything special."

"Again, what if I don't want the body? What if I don't want a second chance?"

"Of course you want it! I mean, I'm giving you a free pass! You keep your memories and everything! You get a powerful body, the ability to change your body to fit whatever you're feeling, no one knows you, and best of all! You get all this for the low, low cost of keeping me entertained."

Melanie frowned. "Keeping you entertained?"

"Well, when I say that, it's more like I'll appear in your dreams to give you advice every so often that you're free to take or not take. After all, if you did everything I told you, it wouldn't be entertaining, am I right?"

"Right..."

"So what'dya say? Want to have a go?"

At Melanie's face the static sighed. "I'll give you a free week long trial, how's that? You can do whatever you want for that week and at the end, I'll contact you and ask if you want to keep going. If you decide you don't want to, then I'll let you go. You can... go wherever you human souls go after you stop breathing. If you want to stay, the terms are exactly like what we discussed, ok?"

"Why are you so set on ME?" Melanie asked. "Surely, if you wanted someone interesting, then you could've had anyone you wanted. Why do you keep giving me a chance?"

The static sighed again. "No one else is as interesting as you! I've been watching you since before your death, and I was fascinated. You were so despondent to everything. You were so tired of living, even though you'd barely lived at all!"

Melanie scowled at that comment, but the voice continued.

"You wanted to die, but you were so afraid to kill yourself! Hating pain and all that. You were indecisive, which attested to the fact that you were constantly switching between genders, you didn't go out and make friends, you smiled when you really didn't want to and-"

"ALRIGHT!" Melanie yelled. "I GET IT. I'm a terrible person." A sigh. "But that just makes me wonder more. Why did you pick ME?"

"Because a truly good person is so BORING! I want someone corrupted! Strange! Someone who knows more than they let on."

* * *

Melanie sat for a while in the green grass and listened to the birds chirp and the water gurgle faintly.

"Now it's really true when I say I'm a demon," she murmured.

Blue sky stretched out above, barely seen through the dense leaf cover.

"Even though it said it was a different world... it still looks and feels like Earth."

"He" lifted a delicate pale hand and grasped at a butterfly slowly fluttering along.

"I've got a week to decide whether or not I want to live..."

The hand opened to reveal the butterfly flapping its iridescent wings slowly.

* * *

 _Hey everybody and welcome to Bad Apple! (No intentional reference to the song whatsoever) This is my 3rd story on FF and has been an idea for a while now. I just recently fleshed out my new OC, Melanie. And if it wasn't obvious, Melanie is bi-gender (switching between genders depending on how the person feels) She **will** gain a new name to fit her new body in the next chapter. So yeah. My first Yu Yu Hakusho fiction ever. Yaaaay...? Uh, so I don't know if I want to do romance or not (as is a running theme with me) so no pairings for now. Um so yeah... have fun and leave a review? *cough*_

 _NEXT TIME: NAMING PROCESS AND SHOPPING_

 _DFTBA (Don't Forget To Be Awesome)_


	2. Naming Process and Shopping

Chapter Two

* * *

"Melanie" landed heavily on the branch of a tree with a particularly wide trunk. There was a soft "oof" as the impact jarred "him" more than was intended.

"Still getting used to this new 'demonic' body," he mumbled to himself. "But still,"

He looked down at the ground that was several yards below him. "I didn't think that it entailed THIS."

The wind gently swished through the trees, giving the forest a soft whisper of a voice.

The first few days of the "trial period" had gone by rather quickly and uneventfully. With the exception of being stronger, it felt as if nothing had changed. Even body height had barely changed (if not a smidge or two shorter).

There was a small shock when a bird had managed to scratch and mar the pale, smooth skin, giving way to bright red droplets that dripped down his forearm and onto the grass.

The bird was quickly (but thoughtfully) dispatched before attention could be given to the scratch. Lamenting the loss of antibiotics, "Melanie" licked at the scratch and was surprised that the scratch had already healed into a thin pink line.

Movement near his feet had him jumping back a little.

There was nothing there except the drops of blood glistening on blades of grass.

Thinking he was going insane, he shook his head and grabbed the bird by the neck, making the short trek back to where he had set up camp. The bird was stripped of feathers and stuck in the coals of a dying fire.

"So I have healing powers. I guess that means that I don't have to get too worried over being injured."

* * *

As promised, the static voice appeared in "Melanie's" dream the night the "trial period" ended.

"So? How was it? Want to keep going?" the voice chirped.

"It's... fun," Melanie admitted. "I feel so alive. More alive than... before."

"Then does that mean you'll do it?" the voice asked, sounding giddy.

"...sure."

"Fantastic! Well, then I'll have to inform you of your other powers-"

"I have OTHER powers?"

"You honestly didn't think I would just give you a body without SOME sort of interesting power." The static seemed offended.

"I thought that the power-up was... y'know what? Nevermind. I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Atta girl. Boy. Whatever. Anyway, as I was saying, you have two other powers, depending on which form you take. In male form, you control your own blood. In female form, you control other people's blood. In your neutral form, you can use both, but they won't be nearly as powerful as they are on their own. Got everything so far?"

A nod.

"Good. Now, for my entertainment-"

"You'll come to me in my dreams and tell me what to do. It's my choice to decide whether or not I want to do it."

"Right. However, in this one case, you have to follow my directions. Tomorrow, head North and you'll come across a town. Nothing big, but big enough for you to get some new clothes. Get some for both forms. After that, get used to your powers. You'll have one and half months. At the end of that time, I'll come to you again. You will head South and come across a team of four demons. Do whatever you have to to join them. You'll get on a boat to Hanging Neck Island. On it will be held a tournament sponsored by some wealthy humans. After that, do what you want. Fight or not, but you must stay on the island for the duration of the tournament."

"That is a lot to process, but ok." Melanie nodded.

"Now for your new name."

"New name?"

"You can't very well go about with 'Melanie' as your name. Pick something. Something ambiguous if you can help it."

"Um. Ok... Sage?"

"No."

"Well that was the only one that I know of," Melanie sniffed.

"FINE. I'll rattle off some names and you'll pick."

A reluctant nod.

"Shiro."

"Eh..."

"Yu."

"Me?"

"Ugh. Akira."

"Why do these sound consistently Japanese?"

"Because you're in Japan," the static replied. "Ayumu."

"No. Wait, I thought you said I was in a different universe."

"You are. A parallel universe. Mako."

"No. A parallel universe? Why was this not brought up when I first met you?"

"Don't get your undies in a knot. It wasn't all that important. Sora."

"Not important?! I'm sorry, in case you hadn't noticed, I DON'T SPEAK JAPANESE. No."

"That won't be a problem. Iori."

"How? And no."

"I did some fiddling. That body will automatically translate whatever language you hear to what you understand. If you want to speak in another language though, is another matter. Japanese is already ingrained in the body so that one is already done. Yuki."

"Oh. And I kind of like Yuki..."

"Then Yuki it is!" the static cheered, sounding farther away than normal.

"Wait, why do you sound so faint?" Melanie asked.

"You're waking up, that's why. Like I told you! Head North! Buy some clothes! Train!" the voice was getting fainter and fainter with each word.

"I don't have any money!" Melanie yelled. "How am I going to buy anything!"

The voice yelled something that was too faint for her to hear.

* * *

Yuki woke with a jolt. Morning light had just begun streaming through the leaves and lighting up the otherwise dark forest.

He let a soft groan and covered his eyes with his hands. "Head North. Which way is North?"

"Ok. Ok. Calm down. The sun rises in the... west...? No, east. Yeah, east." He looked up at the sky.

"I can't see anything... I'll have to get above the trees to see anything properly."

As Yuki rose to his feet, he heard and felt the familiar crinkle of plastic underneath his bare feet. Plastic? Looking down, he found that he had steeped on a plastic bag filled with money. A lot of money. There was also a pair of beat up sneakers next to the bag.

Picking it up and opening it, he found that there was two bundles of money that were as thick as his fist together. The bundles had bills with 1000, 5000, and 10000 written on them.

"I don't know the conversion system for dollars to yen, but that is a lot of money," he mumbled, flicking through the bills, counting up how much he had.

"About 50,000 yen... that's enough to get me through half a day," was his sarcastic remark. "Where did this even come from?"

* * *

Yuki had arrived at the town within an hour or so of traveling. He quickly spotted a clothing shop and rushed inside, wanting to leave the smelly human populated area as soon as possible.

The shop was filled to the brim with the latest fashion. Which consisted of a lot of black and bright offending colors.

"Hello, ma'am, can I help you find something today?" a female worker approached Yuki with a pleasant smile. He was surprised to find that he understood what she was saying,

"Um, yeah, where's the men's section?" Yuki asked, hesitant to speak.

"Looking for something for your boyfriend?"

Yuki shook his head. "For...me."

"Oh! I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't realize-" the woman turned red with embarrassment and started to bow as an apology.

"No, no, it's ok just..."

"Of course!" the woman quickly hurried off, Yuki following close behind. She picked out some black shirts, a jacket, some pants, and some boots.

She gestured for Yuki to enter a changing room and then handed him a shirt, a jacket, pants, and a pair of boots.

* * *

It had taken at least several hours to find something that Yuki both liked, and could move around in. Which was basically two black sweaters, a pair of sweatpants, a pair of jeans (jeans were always something of a necessity to going out for Melanie since she wouldn't go out in sweats), and a pair of unremarkable dark brown hiking boots. After all, the voice had said something about fighting. Now was the task of finding something for his female self.

Luckily, Melanie had always had a liking for the Harajuku style, with its frills and pastel goth tones. Hopefully, there was something similar in this parallel universe.

Yuki hadn't had to look far before he came across a store with the name "Pastel Cavity" in bright blocky letters.

Quickly looking around, he concentrated on focusing becoming female. Breasts began to form and protest against the tight black sweater Yuki was wearing.

"Oh. I forgot underwear."

* * *

To say that Yuki was in Heaven was an understatement. The store, filled with bright pastel colors, was playing a peppy pop song in the background. The worker who had walked up to her was wearing a cute store uniform consisting of a white button-up shirt, a frilly multicolored bow, and a skirt with cookie prints and the store name.

She had introduced herself as "Ayame-chan desu!" in a chipper and high pitched voice that Melanie would have adored and fawned over. Yuki, however, simply grimaced slightly at the grating sound assaulting her ears.

Yuki was given multiple dresses to try on, most of them were pastel colored and frilly. Some were had more muted tones; coffee brown, black, and varying shades of blue. Within 30 minutes, she was being fawned over by several staff members of the store who had come to learn more about "the white haired girl with pale skin that looked like a doll."

Yuki finally settled for a black and white dress with frills, and a set of clothes consisting of a tank top with a sweets print, a pair of shorts, and a skirt that alternated between cream and coffee colors. With slight embarrassment that almost gave way to anxiety, she even bought two sets of underwear. Both were more frilly than she had ever thought bras and panties could be. And they were the least frilly thing in the store.

As Yuki towed her bags out the door, Ayame waved goodbye and threw a "Arigatou-gozaimasu!" out after the pale girl.

"FINALLY," she sighed.

* * *

"Where on Earth am I going to store these clothes without them getting dirty or something?!" Yuki yelled, scaring the birds out of their trees. "And I even have to start training! I live in the WOODS, for crying out loud!"

* * *

 _WOOT WOOT CHAPTER 2! Anyway, sorry for the lack of Yu Yu Hakusho characters. THEY'RE COMING. I PROMISE. I'm actually debating if Yuki should grow out his/her hair and wear it in a ponytail as a guy and let it down as a girl. I just think it'd be nice since I can't imagine female Yuki with short hair like a guy's. But I CAN imagine male Yuki with a ponytail. I guess you'll find out next time on_ _̶̶D̶r̶a̶g̶o̶n̶B̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶Z̶!_

 _NEXT TIME: TRAINING, TRAINING, AND A BOAT RIDE_

 _DFTBA!_


	3. Training, Training, and a Boat Ride

Chapter Three

* * *

 _I've been watching ProJared's playthrough of Asagao Academy and that game is hilarious. But the music and art is really good. So good I've been listening to the theme song for a while now (even as I write this chapter)._

* * *

The month and a half went by rather quickly. With something to do and focus on, the days went by fast. Especially fast when Yuki was concentrating hard on something. The first thing to focus on was attempting to get a grasp on their powers. Unsurprisingly, Yuki had more practice with controlling his own blood rather than controlling something else's blood. Not to mention, whenever she used it on the various wildlife, the end result wasn't exactly... clean.

During the month and a half, Yuki's hair had grown out and now reached his shoulders. Not really wanting to cut it, he tied it up in a loose ponytail with a hair tie he had bought a while back. He _still_ had leftover money.

At the end of the month and a half, the static voice visited Yuki again.

"So? How goes your training?" it asked.

"I thought that you could see me," Melanie replied with a raise of her eyebrow.

"True. But I want to hear your thoughts on it."

"It was... annoying. But I think I got the hang of it. The only thing I have trouble with is the controlling other people's blood."

"Oh... yeeeah... I saw that. Honestly didn't expect it to be that gory," the voice seemed apologetic.

"Actually, I have a question," Melanie interrupted before the voice could continue. "Why is it that I have my old body whenever we talk?"

"Because I'm talking directly to your soul. Your soul is used to your old body as a shell rather than the new one I gave you so to feel more at home, it projects an image of your old body. Get it?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. So? Head South and get on a boat with four other demons was it? To Hanging Neck Island?"

"You remember that quite well despite the fact that it's been a month and a half."

"Yeah, well, being alone will do that to you I guess," Melanie shrugged. "Time alone with your thoughts and all that."

"You got it right, in any case. Head South towards a harbor and you'll meet up with a group of four demons. Do whatever it takes to join them. They'll handle the rest for you. And like I said, once you get there, do what you want. You just-"

"Have to stay there for the entire tournament, got it."

"Yup. So see you later!"

* * *

Yuki woke again with a start.

"Why does that constantly happen?" he wondered.

Shaking his head and grabbing his black backpack (which he had bought a week after buying the clothes so that he had somewhere to store them), he jumped up onto a tree branch and continued jumping up until his head burst through the leaves.

"Ok. I know which way North is, so South should be in the opposite direction. I'm getting good at knowing my cardinal directions."

With a loud bark of a laugh, Yuki headed South.

* * *

Yuki felt the four demons before he saw them. And with felt, it was more like an oppressing pressure pushing down on his body that got worse as he ventured closer.

He was even sweating by the time he saw them.

"It seems we have a visitor," one of the demons said. This one was dressed in wicked looking armor from head to toe, his skin not even visible except for parts of his hands and chin.

"So it seems," another demon replied. This one looked so much like a human, Yuki wasn't sure he was looking at a demon or not. He was tall (easily passing 9 feet) with a mullet (Yuki inwardly laughed at that) and dressed in casual formal. Another man, this one with long wavy hair and a deranged look sat on his shoulders. The demon farthest from Yuki had long black hair and covered the bottom half of his face with a mask.

"Shall I go after them?" the wavy haired man asked the mullet man.

"No. They do not seem to harbor any intent to fight," mullet man replied.

 _GO MULLETS,_ Yuki screamed in his mind. He did NOT want to go up against the wavy haired demon.

Before anyone could make any other comments about killing him, Yuki quickly stepped into view.

"Er," he started, but stopped. How was he supposed to join them? Did he just ask politely and hope for the best? "You four wouldn't happen to be entering the tournament on Hanging Neck Island, would you?"

"And what does it matter to you?" the wavy haired man hissed, grinning in delight when Yuki took a step back.

"I-uh-um-I was planning on entering and uh-" Yuki was stuttering. He was scared. He didn't like these people. They seemed evil. Like serial killer and sadistic torturer evil.

"You don't have anyone else to enter with?" Mullet man asked.

Yuki nodded, thankful for the help. If it was that.

"And you think you can join us?" Mullet man's parasite hissed again.

"I-uh-"

"The Dark Tournament does require 5 members," the long haired man commented. "We can use him to fill up the spot. Not like we'll need him. If he's useless, we can just kill him."

Yuki felt a violent shiver go down his spine, but managed to repress the urge to run.

"He's at least a lower B-class," the armor wearing demon grunted.

The white haired demon was sure that if his hair wasn't already white, it would've turned white when four pairs of eyes rested on him.

"What kind of demon are you?" Mullet man asked.

Yuki didn't know how to answer. He wasn't sure what kind of demon he was. Just as he was about to say, "I don't know," a voice in the back of his mind hissed, "Shapeshifter."

"Shapeshifter," Yuki automatically replied.

"A shapeshifter, eh?" wavy haired man grinned. "What can you do?"

"S-Switch g-genders," the small demon squeaked out.

"Really?"

The grin got wider and the man's eyes glinted like he had just found a new toy.

"What else?" Mullet man interrupted.

"I-I-blood- I can c-control my b-blood," Yuki stuttered.

At that, Mullet man's eyebrows raised.

* * *

Well, the good news was that Yuki had joined the team. The bad news was that he wanted to run away. Far away. It took all of his concentration to not abandon all and run for the hills.

The group boarded a large boat with many other demons. Yuki had learned the Mullet man was named Toguro and so was the wavy haired man that sat on his shoulder. Brothers they said. Armor man was Bui and the tall ninja was Karasu.

Out of the four of them, Karasu and wavy haired Toguro gave Yuki the creeps the most. Mullet man, Younger Toguro, seemed the least creepy, but since Older Toguro was always next to him, that left Yuki with a feeling of dread in his stomach. Even so, he stayed close to the Toguro brothers.

"Hey," Older Toguro's voice made Yuki practically jump out of skin.

"Y-Yes?" he asked.

"You said you were a shapeshifter. And that you can switch genders. Show me what you look like as a girl."

Feeling it wasn't wise to disobey, Yuki did as he was told, feeling breasts start to form and protest against the shirt.

"Like a fragile little doll," Older Toguro cooed, a menacing smile contrasting his voice. "A doll that you can't help but feel like you want to break."

Yuki shivered but stayed in female form, not willing to risk safety over dignity.

"Brother." Older Toguro looked over at his sibling. "The preliminaries are about to start."

"Preliminaries?" Yuki couldn't help but ask.

Younger Toguro looked down at the small demon. "The preliminaries are held on the boats to the island. There the real fights are held."

"Oh."

"You're just a roster filler, so you can just stand somewhere off to the side," Older Toguro sneered. "Unless you want someone to protect you." A lick of the lips. "For a price."

Yuki took a step back and shook her head. "I-I can defend myself, thank you."

* * *

Defending was indeed what she did. As soon as the captain's voice blared over the loudspeaker, it was a free-for-all. Blood and limbs were flying left and right, making Yuki feel somewhat ill.

"Are you all right?" Younger Toguro asked at one point, not really sounding concerned.

"Yeah. Just fine," Yuki swallowed some bile.

A bright red demon with curved horns came charging at Yuki and she leapt up into the air, dodging the rush. The demon promptly tripped and fell over the side and into the salty ocean.

When all was said and done, Team Toguro were the only ones left standing on the boat. Every single one of the other passengers had been killed. Some looked like they had even been tortured.

"Well, then, ladies, we're here at Hanging Neck Island. Home to the Dark Tournament," the captain's voice blared, seemingly unfazed by the carnage that just took place on his boat.

* * *

The first thing that Team Toguro did after arriving on the island was meet up with a man with long black hair and a scar over his right eye. He seemed pleasant enough when he introduced himself to Yuki with a small casual smile.

"My name is Sakyo. A pleasure to meet you, Yuki-san."

Yuki nodded, silent from all the gore on the boat.

Then she was left to her own devices when the four demons and human said that they had something important to discuss.

She wandered around the island and admired the various plant life that grew there. She was still on the harbor when another boat pulled into view and another team walked off.

A demon and 4 humans, was what their energy told her. How, she wasn't overly certain.

The demon was short, but still taller than her, with black spiky hair and a burst of white in the middle. His forehead was covered with a thin headband. Yuki was startled when he abruptly looked over at her with gleaming red eyes.

"What's wrong, Hiei?" one of the humans asked.

This human was taller, with long red hair and leafy green eyes. Had Yuki not known any better, she might've mistaken him for a woman.

The other three humans, one carrying the other (who seemed to be passed out), looked at the demon.

"That demon smells like Toguro," the black haired demon with striking red eyes growled.

The red haired human looked over at Yuki. "Her?"

"Hiei" nodded.

"She's a demon?" the human carrying the other human asked. He had bright orange hair he wore in a pompadour.

"That's what I just said, idiot," Hiei ground out, shooting him a venomous glare.

Orange looked over at Yuki as well. "But she looks so innocent. Like Yukina. She even kinda looks like her."

"That doesn't necessarily mean she isn't one, Kuwabara," Red-head frowned at Yuki.

"But even if she _smells_ like Toguro, it doesn't mean she's with them," Kuwabara protested.

"Then we should just ask, shouldn't we?" Red-head smiled as he took a step towards Yuki.

Yuki took a step back for every step Red-head took forward. However feminine he may be, she didn't like how he felt. Dangerous, was what her instincts told her.

When Red-head realized his approach wasn't working, he stopped. When he stopped, so did Yuki. She wanted to get away, but she was curious. How did they know Toguro?

"Hello," Red-head called out pleasantly enough.

Yuki gave just the barest of nods.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question or two?"

A shake.

Red-head smiled. "Well then. What team are you in?"

Yikes. Dive right in, why don'tcha.

"Team?" Yuki asked, her voice sounding strange. It always had a tendency to go up in pitch in her female form. Even more so when she was unsure or scared.

"Yes. Are you part of a team?"

"I... yes, but I don't know their names," she replied. It was a half truth.

"Can you describe them?"

"Um. Tall? Creepy? Frightening?" That definitely was true.

"Did they have any other distinguishing features?" Red-head seemed like he was getting tired. For his credit, he kept smiling.

"The tallest one had a mullet and sunglasses, one was really creepy and was always wrapped around his shoulders-"

"THAT'S THEM!" Kuwabara yelled. "SHE'S REALLY WITH THEM!"

Uh oh. That accusation sounded really bad. Yuki noticed "Hiei" begin to draw his sword and she backed up quickly. Even Red-head seemed to get more menacing.

Without another word, she jumped backwards and into the nearby forest. She desperately hoped no one would follow her. Her hopes were not heard unfortunately, when she felt something nick her leg and she came to crashing stop.

Yuki gripped her leg and pulled up her pants to check the damage. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. Drops of blood dripped down her leg and onto the forest floor. A big gash had been opened up right underneath her knee.

It wasn't long before she felt cold steel press against her neck and she looked up. The demon was holding his sword to her neck and looked positively ready to murder something. Red-head soon came into view, quickly followed by the last human on the team. They were short and had wrapped their face up so that only the eyes could be seen.

"What do you know of Toguro?" Red-head asked, a frown on his lips.

Yuki swallowed and felt the steel press more firmly against her neck.

"Sorry," she muttered, before willing their blood to heat up and bounce about.

The steel faltered just enough so she could scramble to her feet and take off running again. This time, no one followed her.

* * *

 _BADA BING BADA BOOM THERE YA GO! The Yu Yu Hakusho guys have all showed up! I actually had an alternate chapter with Yuki going with a completely made up group but then I figured that it might make more sense (and more plot) to have them with Team Toguro! It really helped that they had 4 members to begin with so it doesn't change too much up, thank god. I think that was why my brain unconsciously pushed me in that direction. If anybody wants to read the alternate chapter, I can put it up as a deleted scenes kind of thing. Also, this is a really long chapter for me. Yikes. I just had so much to write. And yeah. Younger Toguro is Mullet Man to me. He always has been. ANYWAY!_

 _NEXT TIME: THE FIRST FIGHT_

 _DFTBA! :D_


	4. The First Fight

Chapter Four

* * *

 _I don't really know what to make of Asagao Academy. I really don't. It's such a weird and cringe-worthy game (not because any of it is bad but simply for the fact that it's so awkward to hear some of my favorite YouTubers whisper sweet nothings). It's silly though, and that's a good thing. I like silly things._

 _P.S. I made a mistake (lots) in the first writing of ch.4 that made me re-write it. Here's the updated one._

* * *

Yuki ran and ran, trying to get away from the terrifying demon and his human companions. She finally stopped when she came to a building. Gently touching her throat where the sword had been, she felt the color drain from her face.

 _I got away with my life,_ she thought as she pulled her hand away and looking at the red that stained her fingertips. _That demon wanted to kill me._

"Yuki-san?" a voice shook Yuki out of her thoughts.

As she looked up, she saw the man Team Toguro had walked away with: Sakyo.

"Hello, Sakyo-san," Yuki tried to dignify herself by brushing away some of the debris that clung to her from her run through the forest.

"You seem injured," he commented, his eyes flicking down to her leg.

She promptly felt bad. Why did she feel like a kicked puppy? "It was nothing. I was training and a move got the better of me."

"I see." Sakyo's eyes seemed to grow colder, but he smiled. "Have you gotten settled into your room?"

Yuki tilted her head. "Room?"

"Yes. Follow me. I'll show you the room where you and Team Toguro are staying."

At that, he started to enter the building, Yuki standing in shock before following him in.

They entered an elevator and Sakyo pressed the button to the 5th floor. The ride up was silent. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Sakyo quickly stepped out and started to walk briskly down the halls.

"Here we are," he said, pulling out a card key from his pressed black jacket and swiping it.

He opened the door and allowed Yuki to walk inside first, quickly following behind her and closing the door.

"Wow," Yuki breathed, taking the room in.

It was posh, to say the least.

"This is where we're staying?" she asked, turning back to Sakyo.

He nodded. "I tried to get a good room, but you're all demons. I didn't think any of you would use it."

"Oh, uh..." Yuki scratched the back of her neck, feeling embarrassed for being a demon for some reason.

Sakyo was charming. Creepily so. And she hated that she was falling into it.

"I'll leave you to it, then," he said, giving another small smile and tossed her a card key.

And then he was gone, leaving Yuki alone in the spacious hotel room.

"I wonder if they have a bath..."

* * *

After the bath, Yuki had turned into a guy, feeling less embarrassed that way. Now, Yuki watched Team Toguro from up in the stands, the announcer, a demoness named... Koto? was introducing the members.

"Ah, er, you seem to have only 4 members," the demoness commented, looking slightly scared.

"He's not attending, currently," came the reply from Younger Toguro. "We'll do just fine without him."

* * *

The fight had been bloody, to say the least. Yuki had had to fight the urge to throw up. He managed to get away with dry heaving thankfully. The white haired demon followed a small crowd out of the stadium, noting that the majority stayed. Instead of watching fights, he wanted to get something to eat. It had been a long time since he had a dish, instead of just roasted meat. He only hoped he would be able to keep it down.

Outside the stadium was a myriad of stalls. Food, gifts, betting booths... The tournament seemed more like a festival than anything. Of course, the festival was only enjoyed by the spectators, and not the participants. Not usually.

Yuki wandered around for a bit and noticed he only had about 5000 yen left. Not really enough. There were too many things he wanted to get, and 5000 yen wasn't going to cover it.

As he spied another betting booth, he wondered if he should take his chances. Team Toguro was strong, no doubt about that. But could he bet if he was a part of a team? Shaking his head, he decided to not take any chances. Should he bet the money and lose it, there was no way to get it back.

So instead, Yuki settled on buying some takoyaki and a fried squid on a stick. Seafood seemed like the obvious choice on an island. The takoyaki was good, but the fried squid was a little much for his tastes.

In total, the spending for that day was 1000 yen. Not bad.

As Yuki munched on the chewy cephalopod, he spotted the group of 4 humans and demon from before. They seemed to be walking with 4 human girls.

A brunette was dragging one human boy along while his comrades and her friends followed from behind and watched them. The girl and the boy passed by Yuki, but neither of them did so much as bat an eye. They seemed too into each other.

Their friends followed along, but the men noticed Yuki.

"Hey, you're that chick from before!" the orange pompadour young man yelled, pointing at Yuki. What was his name? Kuwa...bara?

"Uh, sorry, I think you've got me mistaken with someone else," Yuki shook his head.

"What?" Kuwabara looked confused. "But-"

"I'm male."

A girl with long brown hair and cigarette in her mouth smacked him upside the head.

"Sorry about that," she said. "He's an idiot."

"No, it's ok," Yuki smiled, but felt a cold drop of sweat drip down his neck. He wasn't oblivious to the glare the demon, Hiei, was giving him. The red-head just watched him with wary eyes.

"Well, I'll be on my way then," he continued, giving a stiff wave to the group.

* * *

As Kurama and Hiei watched the small demon disappear into the writhing mass of bodies, both of them knew.

"The energy was the same," Hiei commented.

Kurama nodded. "Perhaps he's a shapeshifter. He's definitely part of Team Toguro, since they mentioned missing a member."

"What should we do?"

The red-headed human tilted his head in thought. "If he's hiding his power, he could very well be capable of overtaking us. Let's just keep an eye out, for now."

"The girl was so easy to injure," Hiei looked back at the mass where Yuki had disappeared.

"It might be a ploy. We don't know his powers or what his association with Toguro is."

"She did something to us. Something internal. That could be her power."

"Yes, but until we can pinpoint what exactly it is, we shouldn't take any unnecessary risks."

* * *

Yuki breathed out a sigh as he opened up the door to the hotel room. He definitely wasn't sure how he got away with that.

"Look who's back," a voice hissed.

Yuki jumped a little and looked up.

"Where's your brother?" he asked, realizing that Older Toguro was still big in comparison to him. He just looked small in comparison to his hulking giant of a younger brother.

"Out," was the curt reply.

"Then I guess I'll leave," Yuki turned to go back out the door, but was stopped when he felt something curl around his arm and leg.

"Are you avoiding me?" Older Toguro's voice was creepily close to Yuki's ear. "How un-friendly you are."

* * *

Team Urameshi had barely arrived back at the hotel when there was the distinct sound of breaking glass from above.

There was barely any time to move out of the way when someone landed right where the group had been standing. A small frame with fluffy white hair tied back in a loose ponytail glared up at the hotel with seething blue eyes. There was also a touch of something else in them. Fear?

"Leave me the hell alone!" the small demon yelled.

The group glanced up at the hotel to see a body climbing down the side of a wall.

"Don't be so cruel, Yuki," Older Toguro purred. "We could have fun."

"Stay away from me!"

The white haired demon, Yuki, narrowly dodged a fast-moving arm by jumping backwards.

There was a moment of silence as the older of the Toguro brothers climbed down the rest of the wall, looking very much like a four-legged spider.

"Hello, Team Urameshi," he greeted, giving a positively creepy smile to the group.

"Bastard..." Yusuke mumbled, clenching his fists.

"So nice to see you again. Excuse the fuss. We're just," Older Toguro glanced over at Yuki. "Working out a spat."

"SPAT MY ASS," Yuki yelled, instantly regretting it.

Older Toguro grinned. "It _is_ a very nice one."

"I didn't think you were blind as well as an ass, creep," Yusuke ground out. "That's a guy."

The demon gave a great bark of a laugh. "I see you haven't figured it out, have you?"

"Figured what out?" The Spirit Detective couldn't hold the question in.

"He played you quite well, didn't he?"

"I played no one," Yuki cut in with a growl. "That was pure coincidence."

"Take the credit, my dear. You did such a good job. A pity it ended up being ruined."

"NOTHING was ruined! There was no 'playing' to be done!" Yuki almost wanted to scratch himself so that he could attack the wavy-haired demon. Almost.

"You were playing us?" Kuwabara asked, looking slightly betrayed. Why, Yuki couldn't understand since they didn't know each other.

"ARE YOU DEAF?! I just said nobody was being played!"

The white-haired demon was practically seething at this point. That was something that almost never happened. With a strength he didn't know he had, Yuki ripped at his arm, tearing the pale skin apart and exposing the bright liquid underneath that poured out of his arm. As it dripped down his arm and into his hand, it formed a ruby red dagger that glittered in the quickly vanishing daylight.

"PIECE OF SHIT!" Yuki yelled, throwing the dagger at Older Toguro.

The drops of blood that hadn't solidified flew off his arm and were suspended in air.

The wavy-haired demon dodged the wickedly sharp dagger with ease and a grin.

"Is that it?" he asked, his voice grating on Yuki's ears.

Team Urameshi watched in amazement as the drops of blood sharpened and flew at the older Toguro brother. He dodged almost all of the droplets, only two catching him and piercing the skin. While Toguro dodged, Yuki ripped at his other arm, making more blood flow down his arm. He was beginning to feel the effects of blood loss, but pure humiliation and anger pushed him through. This time, instead of making a dagger, he went straight to flinging the droplets at Toguro. This time, more caught him.

With a grunt, Older Toguro seemed to be struggling.

"Fine," he hissed. "I'll let you go for now."

And he disappeared.

Yuki was breathing hard as he gripped at the wounds on his arms. On inspection, they didn't seem quite that bad. His vision was blurry and his head felt like it was swimming.

There was a mumbled "Crap," as he felt himself fall to the ground. He hit the dirt with a ungraceful "thud" and a sore bum. Yuki was trying to focus on getting the blood to stop and heal the wound when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw red.

"Yuki, right? Let me see," Kurama demanded, his voice soft.

With a nod and a passing thought of, _How does he know my name?_ The red-head was inspecting the wounds.

"You'll be fine. The bleeding has stopped considerably," came the diagnosis.

Yuki nodded again, feeling too tired to do much of anything else.

"That was awesome!" came another voice, making him jump. "How did you do that?"

A quick look told Yuki that the one who had spoken was the human named Kuwabara.

"My... ability..." Yuki managed to get out, before having to stop and hold his head in his hand. He was too dizzy to talk.

"You lost a lot of blood. You should focus on healing before anything else," Kurama warned.

"Why...?" Yuki asked. "I'm part of Team Toguro so why?"

The red-head regarded him with a look of suspicion.

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, or something?" Yuki gave a small grin, feeling less dizzy.

He wasn't surprised when Kurama's eyes widened just a fraction.

"Don't worry," Yuki tried. "Too much. I'm not with them that willingly."

"And what does that mean?" Hiei, for the first time since their first encounter, spoke up.

"It wasn't exactly my choice to be a part of their group. I needed to get into the tournament somehow. I met them along the way and they agreed." Yuki sincerely hoped they didn't ask him to elaborate.

"What do you mean it wasn't exactly your choice?" Kurama asked.

 _Dammit._

* * *

 _HEY! Sorry for the deleting of the original ver. but I just... didn't like how it felt. Not to mention the fact that I wrote myself into a corner and didn't notice it until I attempted to write ch.5. That's what I get for trying to write when I desperately need sleep. Anyway,_

 _NEXT TIME: CRAPPY EXPLANATIONS_

 _DFTBA! :)_


	5. Crappy Explanations

Chapter Five

* * *

 _CHAPTER 5 BABY! YEAH!_

* * *

"What do you mean is wasn't exactly your choice?" Kurama asked.

"Uh," came Yuki's ever so eloquent response.

 _Oh, well, I'm just visited by something in my dreams that brought me back to life for its entertainment that tells me what to do but only this one time, otherwise I'm free to basically do what I want, and it told me to meet up with four demons, who turned out to be Team Toguro, and I'm not insane I promise, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME._

Yeah. There was no way this couldn't end badly. At least for Yuki.

"It's complicated," he decided.

Kurama raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow but didn't comment.

"I'm confused," came Yusuke's voice.

Yuki looked over at him. Kurama followed suit.

"I thought you guys said that you met a _demoness_. Girl, right?"

The red-head nodded. "That's right."

"So then why is there a _guy_ instead of a _girl_?"

Green eyes shifted back to Yuki.

"I'm a shapeshifter," Yuki sighed. "I can switch between genders."

"Wait, what?" this time it was Kuwabara.

With another deep sigh, Yuki concentrated. It wasn't long before he felt his chest begin to grow and protest the tight black shirt.

"Whoa," came two voices, one overlapping with the other.

"As you can see, it can be..." Yuki looked back at where she had been thrown out of the window. "Not the most useful."

"That's so cool, though!" Yusuke grinned. "I bet you get all sorts of free stuff!"

"What?"

"Heck, if I was a girl, I bet I'd get all sorts of good stuff! Can you change different parts?"

"Uh...no, it's kind of preset."

"Bummer. That would've been cool if you could change how big those things are."

Yuki had to suppress the urge to cover her chest.

"Since you've all had your fun with this, I think I'm going to leave early so I don't have to withstand any more of this nonsense," Hiei cut in, frowning.

It wasn't until just then that Yuki noticed his charred right arm.

"Is your arm ok?" she couldn't help but ask.

There wasn't an answer aside from a piercing glare. She held up her hands.

"Sorry."

As Hiei disappeared in a blur, Kurama cleared his throat.

"Your arms seem to be almost thoroughly healed," he commented.

Yuki looked down at her limbs. "Oh...yeah. Perks of being a demon I guess."

"Not all demons have that fast healing," came Kurama's reply.

"Oh."

 _I did not know that and I probably screwed myself over at least 5 times in this conversation._

"So...uh... who are you guys?" Yuki tried to turn the conversation away from her.

"I'm Yusuke Urameshi!" Yusuke grinned and struck a pose.

"I'm Kazuma Kuwabara," Kuwabara said, holding a hand out for Yuki.

Yuki took it and was helped to her feet.

"Kurama," the red-head gave a pleasant smile.

"And the little runt with a stick up his butt is Hiei," Yusuke finished.

"Yuki."

"Y'know, you don't seem much like a demon, Yuki-chan," Kuwabara commented.

"Just Yuki works. And Kurama over here doesn't seem like much of a human, either," she retorted.

There was a moment of silence and then a snort from Yusuke.

"Not much of a human, she says," he choked.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" Yuki could feel her chest tighten.

Yusuke placed a hand on her shoulder. "No, in fact, you were spot on."

A burst of laughter.

Yuki glanced over at Kurama. His smile had gone tight. When he noticed her gaze he quickly fixed it. It still seemed forced.

The masked fighter had been silently observing all this.

* * *

Yusuke and Kuwabara were pleasant enough to get along with. Kuwabara apparently had the notion that Yuki was being held captive by the Toguro brothers and swore to free her. Yusuke saw her more as an interesting fighter he couldn't wait to pummel into the ground. (Kuwabara scolded him for being violent against ladies to which Yuki attempted to mention that she was a shapeshifter and therefore didn't really have a set gender, but hey, what can you do?) Kurama was a different story. He made almost no action to talk to Yuki and contributed very little, if anything, to the conversations between her, Yusuke, and Kuwabara. The masked fighter was even less talkative.

Kuwabara offered to escort her back to the room, but Yuki managed to weasel her way out of the offer by saying that the window was broken and therefore the room was unusable. It wasn't like he wasn't a nice guy but... she wasn't interested. They had just turned a corner when the mood became tense.

"Yuki," Toguro's voice was deep and intimidating.

Yuki nodded at the tall and muscular man. "Toguro."

"Sakyo wishes to speak with you."

The white haired demon tilted her head. "Why?"

"He didn't say, but I wouldn't keep him waiting. He's back in the room."

Yuki nodded again. "Got it." She turned to the rest of Team Urameshi.

"See ya," she waved at them before heading down the hall and to the room where she had been thrown out the window just 50 minutes prior.

* * *

Sakyo was waiting in a soft cushioned chair when Yuki arrived.

"Hello, Yuki," he greeted.

Older Toguro stood off to one side of him.

"Toguro told me you two had a fight."

Yuki nodded. "Yes sir."

"And that you managed to injure him."

Another nod.

Sakyo slowly pushed himself out of the chair, walking towards Yuki.

"I applaud you. That's not an easy task to accomplish."

"Thank you, sir."

"You don't need to address me that formally," Sakyo smiled.

 _True, but I'm afraid of what you'll do if I somehow make you angry, so I'm playing it safe buster._

"You're our manager, sir."

The human with the scar over his eye seemed to frown just a fraction before continuing.

"In any case, I would like you to participate in the fight at least once. You have talent that needs to be showcased."

"Yes sir."

"Very good. I'll be watching your fight."

* * *

Yuki sighed and sank into the chair. Thankfully, Sakyo had moved them to another room. Another thing to be thankful about was the fact that none of Team Toguro seemed keen on staying the hotel room. That meant, for the most part, Yuki was alone. On the rare occasions that more than one person was in it was when Older Toguro "checked up on" Yuki. Needless to say, his "concern" wasn't appreciated.

Since tomorrow was going to be his first fight, Yuki spent the rest of the day concentrating on what he felt was the best. He hadn't really thought about a weapon to use, since sharpening and solidifying droplets of blood seemed to work fine. But since the skirmish with Older Toguro, he realized that they weren't effective on targets that had the capability to move faster than a woodland animal. The more drops there were, the higher the hit rate, but that also meant more blood loss and a higher chance of fainting. So it was better to expend a certain amount and use that throughout.

It hadn't been the first time he had attempted to make a usable weapon, but creating an actual weapon instead of just sharpening liquid took more effort and concentration. The bigger the weapon, the more concentration. The more details, the more concentration. So simple and small was the basic idea.

Unfortunately, Yuki wasn't the greatest with target practice, and he only had about 15 hours until the fight, so throwing items were out of the question. The more he thought about it, it seemed like his main choices were going to be two daggers or a full-fledged sword. The daggers weren't the easiest to use since they required the user to be in close proximity to be used properly and Yuki wasn't too keen on fighting close quarters. The sword took more blood but had a longer reach.

Sighing, he realized that his blood-manipulating ability wasn't the easiest thing to master. There was approximately 5.5 litres of blood in the human body and he could use maybe a litre or two before having some real problems. He didn't know how much demons could take and wasn't willing to find out. So deciding to play it on the safe side, Yuki decided to go with the sword. The sword took maybe a litre to form but with his regenerative ability that amount might take 5 minutes to recover.

Nodding to himself, he took out a piece of broken glass that he had snagged when he had been thrown out the window. Breathing in, he slashed at his arm and there was a quick exhale as he felt the sharp pain. The ruby red blood dripped down his forearm and he concentrated on willing it to form a vague sword shape.

He watched as it wiggled and came together to form the sharp edge, then what looked like a crude hilt, glittering like a ruby. Breathing out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, Yuki swung the sword gently. It was light. Looking around, he spotted a candle and placed it on one of the glass tables. With a swing, the candle was cut crudely in half. He inspected the sword and found that the edge wasn't smooth, but multi-faceted like a cut gemstone. Focusing again, he willed the edge to smooth out. It did eventually and with much difficulty. Grabbing another candle, he again swung. This time, the candle was cut cleanly in half.

He willed the blood to go back to liquid form and it obeyed, splattering onto the crème carpet and staining it. He then flexed his hand and willed it back into the sword shape. It obeyed, lifting from the carpet and forming the weapon so that it rested on the soft flooring. Yuki felt a surge of pride.

He had done it. He had created a sword. Now all he had to do was figure out how to keep it in that shape while _fighting._

Hoo boy.

* * *

 _TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY HOW'S THAT. And this chapter was mainly me talking about and describing Yuki's blood-manipulating ability. The only big drawback to the male form's ability is that to hold the shape, you have to constantly maintain the image in your head. Especially for something big and relatively complex like weapon. Just sharpening droplets is pretty easy once you've mastered it. So is anything else, but the requirements are a little more demanding._

 _The female form's biggest drawback will be discussed soon, but I don't want to talk about here, cause it might spoil something._

 _ANYWAYS_

 _NEXT TIME: GLITTERING BLOOD RUBIES_

 _DFTBA! :D_


	6. Glittering Blood Rubies

Chapter Six

* * *

Yuki wasn't surprised to see some of the members of Team Urameshi watching the fight from a balcony. If anything, it was expected.

"Today we have Team Toguro facing off against Team Spirit Warriors!" Came Koto's voice.

It was certainly very different to be down in the arena and not watching from the stands. Yuki was looking over at the stands when a cold hand draped over his shoulder.

Yuki spun around.

"Sakyo told me to let you have at least one fight," Older Toguro smirked. "Can you handle that, little demon?"

The blood-manipulator nodded. "I managed to fend you off. I think I can handle this."

There was a flicker of annoyance as Older Toguro stalked back to his brother.

* * *

"And next we have Team Toguro's Yuki, who was absent from their first fight, up against Team Spirit Warrior's Gorilla!" Koto's voice blasted throughout the stadium.

Yuki jumped up onto the stage as a large demon carrying an enormous hammer did the same. His hair was long and parted with a yellow headband wrapped around his forehead.

"This is who I'm fighting?" Gorilla sneered. "A little demon like you? I bet you don't even know how to fight."

Yuki didn't respond.

"BEGIN!"

Gorilla charged at the smaller demon but Yuki jumped high into the air, effectively dodging the attack. As he sailed over the ring, he scratched at his arm, the blood flowing down the limb and quickly transforming into a crimson blade. Small drops of extra blood caught the light and glittered before being spattered onto the ring's floor. He landed silently at the other end where Gorilla had once stood.

" _Ot'to!_ It looks like Contestant Yuki has gracefully dodged Contestant Gorilla's mad charge!"

"It doesn't matter if you've got a weapon, cause my hammer will crush it and you!" Gorilla yelled, charging again, this time with his hammer at the ready.

As Gorilla charged, Yuki willed the extra droplets of blood that had fallen on the floor to come to life and wrap around Gorilla's legs, stopping the demon's attack.

"Coward!" he spat.

"As long as I win," Yuki replied, jumping into the air and swinging his sword downwards. Gravity would make up for the brute strength he didn't have.

His mind didn't register what he had done until he felt the blood fly onto his face. Silently, he looked over his work. Gorilla's torso had been split diagonally from his neck to underneath his right arm, the wound spraying blood everywhere. It had been a relatively quick death, the demon only had seconds to gag on blood and register what had happened.

"And Contestant Gorilla has been brutally dispatched! This round goes to Team Toguro!"

Yuki hadn't even realized he had left the stage until he heard a begrudging "Well done," from the armor wearing Bui.

He nodded numbly, the blood sword still in his hand. But it felt heavy.

* * *

"That was very well done, Yuki," Sakyo smiled.

"Thank you, sir," came the demon's reply.

"Will you be participating in the other rounds as well?"

Yuki shook his head. "Not if I can help it."

"Why not?"

"I... believe I am not needed. The rest of Team Toguro is capable of fighting more than I am. They are more experienced."

Sakyo nodded. "That is true. But I believe you to be a valuable asset with your capabilities."

"Thank you... but your praise is misplaced," Yuki shook his head. "I have no desire to continue being associated with Team Toguro after the tournament."

"I see."

* * *

As Yuki left the arena, he spotted Team Urameshi conversing with the girls from yesterday. While his initial thought was that they were all human, he realized that two were not. One, who he assumed to be Yukina judging from her appearance, was a demon. The other, with bright blue hair and a chipper attitude, was something else entirely. The rest were human like he thought.

It wasn't long before he was spotted by Kuwabara. He gave Yuki a wide smile and waved him over. He hesitated when he felt the masked fighter's eyes on him.

"Hey! Yuki! What're you doing over there!" Yusuke called, realizing what Kuwabara was waving at.

With a sigh of resignation, Yuki made his way to the group. The girls were staring at him as he silently walked up to him.

"Hey Yusuke," Yuki greeted once he was close enough. "Kuwabara."

"That was an awesome fight, man!" Yusuke clapped his hand on the small demon's back, making Yuki stumble and his back sting. "Now I really wanna fight ya!"

"Yusuke!" the brunette with a bob scolded.

"Maybe one day," Yuki tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace.

"You're Yuki-kun, right?" the brunette girl turned her gaze to the white-haired demon.

He nodded.

"Yusuke has told me about you. Your fight was certainly something."

Was it just him or were her words especially chilly?

"Er, thank you...?" Yuki trailed off, unsure of what her name was.

"Keiko," she told him with great reluctance.

"This is my older sister, Shizuru," Kuwabara butt in, possibly sensing the tension.

Yuki turned his gaze to the taller brunette and they shared a nod.

"I'm Botan," the blue haired girl chirped.

Yuki gave her a nod and a small smile. She seemed interesting.

"I'm Yukina," the small female demon greeted, her smile somewhat forced.

Was she afraid of him? He was barely taller than her. What was she afraid of?

"We seem to have similar names," Yuki smiled as kindly as he could. "Nice to meet you."

Yukina's smile was a little more genuine this time. "Likewise."

"So what technique did you use to kill that guy, Yuki?" Yusuke asked, his voice curious, laced with just a smidgen of force.

"It wasn't really a technique," Yuki began carefully. "It's simply what I can do."

"You can control your blood? Dude, that's morbid. Don't you ever get, y'know, side effects of something?" Kuwabara sounded mildly disgusted.

"I... haven't really found out," the white-haired demon admitted.

Even in that fight, he hadn't felt the effects of using so much blood. Was it because of that strange sense of euphoria?

"How did your fights go?" Yuki wanted to move away from himself as much as possible.

"We won!" Yusuke grinned at that.

As Yuki, Kuwabara, and Yusuke all chatted about their fights, the girls seemed to be discussing something. As soon as Yusuke and Kuwabara started to argue, Yuki decided that perhaps enough this was enough interaction for one day. His presence seemed to be upsetting to the girls.

"Hey, uh, I need to get back to my room, so..." Yuki trailed off, hoping one of them would get the hint.

"What? Why? It's not even sundown yet," Yusuke seemed genuinely surprised.

"I-well, I need to get some training in..."

"But I thought you said that you weren't going to participate in any more of the fights?"

"Uh, yeah, but that doesn't mean I can slack off...?" Yuki was getting desperate at this point.

"We should let him go, Yusuke," Keiko's voice made Yuki jump a little. "I'm sure he has other things to do than chat with you."

 _Thank you, I think._

Yusuke seemed a little put out by this, but he didn't object, instead wishing Yuki good luck on his training. Kuwabara seemed to be regarding Yuki with slight pity. Where had that come from?

Yuki quickly bid the group goodbye and hurried away from the glare he could feel from Keiko.

* * *

"What was that about, Keiko?" Botan hissed under her breath.

"I don't like him," the brunette huffed. "He's with that group of murderers! He even killed that poor guy earlier! You were there! You saw it!"

"Still! Did you have to be so obvious about it? If he was so inclined, he might have ripped you apart!"

Keiko _did_ feel a little embarrassed about that. She had been so engrossed with trying to get him away that she hadn't really thought about it. He hadn't even felt remotely threatening actually. Or even looked it. Maybe a little hurt, but...

"I don't like him," she repeated.

* * *

Yuki did eventually start to train, but only after he tried to think about what he had done to make Keiko so mad at him. It didn't take long to figure out.

S _he probably thinks I'm a murderer. Which I am, but it was in self-defense! Well... not really. I... cut him down... **killed** him... God, I'm terrible, aren't I. I really shouldn't be surprised with the fact that she doesn't want me around her friends._

He decided to focus on creating different things with his blood to distract himself from the image of the dead demon that had seared itself in his mind. Absently, he created a crude shield, barely bigger than his hand. Then a card, a cartoon heart, and a realistic heart. He had been completely focused on that last one. The heart almost seemed to pulse in his hand. With a shock, he realized it was. His shock briefly made the heart flicker and droop back into a liquid. He focused again and inspected it more closely. It was definitely pulsing. But... how?

He gazed at his arm, surprised to see that the blood had solidified in ribbons curling around his arm. It trailed all the way back to the wound in the pale skin. Closer inspection revealed that there was a thin casing around the wound that stopped the blood and effectively any healing. Deciding to play around with it, he tried to focus on drawing the blood back into his arm. And it did. It was a slow and slightly painful process, but it worked.

He hoped there weren't any diseases that were harmful to demons.

* * *

 _CHAPTER 6! YAAAAY! *cough* I had quite a bit of fun writing this one, actually. I'm a little sad that we're coming close with being done with the Dark Tournament Arc, but I'm sure **something** will happen before the Sensui Arc... Anyway,_

 _NEXT TIME: WHITE NOISE_

 _DFTBA! :)_


	7. White Noise

Chapter Seven

* * *

"So, how are you doing?" the static voice asked.

Melanie couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed. Just a little, itsy, teeny tiny, bit.

"What for?"

"Oh, I don't know. I'm with a group of murderous demons and I just killed a man, so."

"Not a man. A demon. Who would've killed you if you hadn't killed him first."

Melanie sighed. This was getting tiresome. "What do you want me to do here? Lose my sanity? 'Cause I'm so close."

"Well, no, that wasn't the intended purpose. I wanted you to meet some people."

"Who?"

"I'll give you a hint, since I'm so nice. You've already met them."

"That's... so not helpful. I've met so many people that even I can't remember them."

* * *

Yuki awoke with a jerk (again) and looked around. He had just been pulled from sleep and the conversation. What on Earth woke him? Was he being attacked? Had Team Toguro finally deemed him useless?

 _No, no, Sakyo said my talents are valuable. Even if the team wanted me gone, Sakyo wouldn't let them._

Against all better judgement, he called out, "Hello?"

There was no answer. Yuki scanned the room quickly, thankful for the night-vision his demonic body granted him. Nothing was out of place. There were no shadows lurking behind walls.

 _Am I going crazy?_

Shaking his head, Yuki attempted to go back to sleep. Finding himself unable to, he instead decided to meditate. When that didn't do much but cause him to wander his own mind (and question his sanity teaming up with some murderers and even s _taying_ with them), Yuki decided to train.

* * *

 _Apparently demons can function pretty well with minimal sleep._

Yuki didn't feel half as tired as he would've been in a human body. He hadn't been able to fall back to sleep after the odd midnight awakening, but even so, his brain wasn't muddled.

"I wonder if I should check out the fights today..." he muttered, watching some humans leave the building and head towards the stadium. "Nah."

Instead of watching the fights, Yuki decided to spend the day training. He had somehow acquired a fondness for it during his isolation in the woods. So the demon focused on getting his stamina up. It had been horrendous even when he was alone. Even more so, now that he was surrounded by people who could outlast him, should they come to a standstill. And since the demons had demonstrated what they tended to do to losers, the white-haired demon wasn't willing to lose.

 _Even I'm guilty of this. Killing the loser. It's barbaric and cruel. And yet I adapted to it so quickly._

Yuki had to still his shaking hands and forcibly banish the image of the dead and mutilated Gorilla.

 _I can't think about that. If I do... who knows what Team Toguro will do to me if they find out I don't want to kill._

* * *

It was almost sundown before Yuki spotted Team Urameshi walking from the stadium. They seemed to be beat-up and overly exhausted. What on Earth had happened for them to look like that? Without a second thought, he rushed to help Kuwabara walk.

"What happened?" he rushed to ask.

Yusuke and Kuwabara grinned. "We won!"

"I realized _that,_ but are you guys ok?"

"Kuwabara here might be a bit beat up, but otherwise we're good!" Yusuke grinned.

Yuki's gaze flickered over to the masked fighter and Hiei. They seemed to be worse for wear. Hiei hadn't even taken his right hand out of his pocket. What Yuki could see of it, was that it looked burned, like charcoal.

"I'd suggest you let Kuwabara, Hiei, and..." Yuki looked at the masked fighter, hoping for a name.

They seemed to understand, but shook their head. Then they spoke. It was soft, but clear, and very feminine. "Don't bother with me. I'll be fine."

At first, Yuki was startled, but he quickly nodded. "Just rest. You look terrible. I can tell that, even if I can't see your face."

The masked fighter nodded.

"I don't need you to tell me what to do," Hiei hissed, giving Yuki a glare.

Yuki felt his temper flare. He was just trying to help. Even if he was on the bad guy team.

"Fine then, die. Maybe then you'll be able to put aside your damned pride," Yuki hissed back.

Hiei seemed shocked, taking a step away. He quickly recovered.

"I could kill you in my sleep," he growled.

"Try me. Maybe you'll find I'm stronger than you," Yuki growled back. It seemed like they were two weak wolves fighting over a meal.

Even though Hiei was 3 inches taller then him, Yuki did his best to glare him down. As blue and red clashed in a battle of stubbornness, there was the sound of someone clearing their throat.

Yuki reluctantly broke eye-contact with the infuriating fire-demon and looked over at Kurama. Hiei huffed.

"It's certainly kind of you to worry about us," the red-head smiled.

Yuki nodded slowly. "You guys are pretty cool in my book, so..."

Yusuke broke into a wide grin. "Hear that, Kuwabara! We're cool!"

The black haired teen slapped his bent over charge and Kuwabara coughed a little.

"Did you have to hit me, Urameshi?!"

"Don't be such a wuss! You're fine!"

Yuki held back a small snort. It was refreshing to see their antics. He had gotten bored of being alone in the hotel room. Although, compared to the alternative of seeing Team Toguro, Yuki was thankful for the alone time.

"Who did you fight against? I heard a lot of cheering and whatnot," he finally asked.

"We fought against two teams today," Kurama informed the short demon.

"Two? That's... unconventional. I thought teams fought once per day?"

"Yes, well, it seems today wasn't conventional."

Yuki nodded again (he seemed to do that a lot around Team Urameshi) and watched the two human boys bicker.

"It seems that the finals are in two days," Kurama spoke again.

That sentence surprised Yuki.

"The finals are in two days? So fast?" he asked, his gaze turning to the red-head.

Kurama nodded. "We'll be fighting against each other then." He paused. "I think it'd be best if you gave us some time alone."

"Oh... yeah, sure."

He wasn't about to say it, but Yuki felt like he could count Yusuke and Kuwabara as friends. Maybe he was mistaken. He _was_ fighting against them.

"Hold on."

Yuki was shocked to see Hiei standing in his way.

"I want answers."

The white-haired demon tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean about what you did to Kurama and I that time in the forest."

"Oh. That was... another ability of mine."

"Elaborate," Hiei demanded, stepping closer and invading Yuki's personal space.

Yuki felt himself want to retaliate but reeled the feeling in and took a step back before continuing. "It's an ability I can use only as a female. It allows me to control another being's blood."

"Is that how you caused that pain? You controlled our blood?" Hiei looked like he was about to kill someone. Which, granted, he probably had done before.

Yuki nodded very, very slowly. He didn't want to fight against Hiei. He knew _nothing_ about the fire-demon. Aside from that maybe he used a sword. And was fast. _Really_ fast.

Hiei seemed to take a deep breath to calm down. And then he was gone. Yuki tensed, slightly panicked that Hiei was about to attack.

"Don't worry. That little runt is in no shape ta' fight," came Yusuke's voice. "He's just gone off somewhere."

"No shape to fight? Is that why he hid his arm?" Yuki relaxed and looked over at the tall teen.

"I'm surprised you noticed that," Kurama commented. "But yes. He injured himself."

"Oh. Well... uh, I'll leave you guys to your... healing. And um. For what it's worth, I hope you guys win."

* * *

Yuki was mildly surprised to see Team Toguro in the hotel room.

"Yuki," came Younger Toguro's voice. "We missed you at the arena."

"I didn't go," came the small demon's response. "I was preparing for the finals."

"So you heard."

Yuki nodded. "We're fighting against Team Urameshi, right?"

"That's right, little Yuki," Older Toguro smirked. "I hope you're ready."

"If you don't mind me asking... why does Team Urameshi seem to have a grudge against you guys?"

Younger Toguro raised an eyebrow. "What does it matter to you?"

"I want to know if I end up getting in the way of someone's revenge or something."

The body-builder known as Younger Toguro was silent for a while. "Something like that."

 _Thanks. That's OH SO helpful._

* * *

The next day was suspenseful. Yuki watched Team Urameshi leave the building and head to the arena without Yusuke or the masked fighter. Where were they? Wasn't Yusuke important?

"Excited, are we?" a voice made Yuki jump and spin around.

He was face-to-face with Older Toguro.

"What do you want?" Yuki ground out.

"Just asking a question, little Yuki. Humor me."

"No, I'm not excited," he sighed, turning back to the window.

"Really? You're not excited to feel blood on your hands?"

Yuki whipped his head back around, eyes freezing. Before he could speak, Older Toguro laughed.

"Don't try and hide it. You like feeling powerful. You enjoyed killing that lower-class demon."

"That's not true."

"You're afraid of what it did to you. You don't want to be a killer. But it's in your nature. You're a _demon._ "

Part of what he said was true. Yuki didn't want to be a killer. He _was_ afraid of what it did to him. And it probably _was_ in his nature as a demon. And... he had attacked with every intention to kill. But after coming down from the adrenaline rush, Yuki had been horrified by what he had done. He had obsessively scrubbed at his face, turning the pale skin a raw red until he could feel the stinging every time his face moved. He wasn't like them. He would control himself. He would have to.

"You're wrong," Yuki replied, his voice weak.

But even still... if he was a demon, and demons killed... would that mean he would become bloodthirsty? Would he lose his humanity and start to _actively_ look for things to kill? If he _wanted_ to kill... would he be able to control himself?

"For now," Older Toguro chuckled darkly, as if reading Yuki's inner turmoil. "When the power starts to corrupt that pretty little mind of yours, come find me. I'll take care of you."

* * *

Yuki managed to escape from the suddenly oppressive hotel building, running into the forest and attempting to calm down his anxiety. He wasn't a demon. He was human. He wasn't a demon. He was human. He wasn't a killer. He never wanted to be.

Thoughts raced through his mind, grasping at what seemed to be left of his humanity. He had accepted his powers so easily. He never questioned them. Yet now here he was, trying to calm his accelerated panting and shaking. Would he lose himself? Or rather... would he lose Melanie? Would the human part end up being swallowed by the demon part? Would Melanie truly become _Yuki?_

Yuki skidded to a stop and forced his body to become female. She looked over her shaking hands, now seeming paler than usual. Clenching them, she shook her head and allowed her feet to go where they wanted.

It wasn't long before she stopped at the edge of a cliff overlooking the blue sea. It seemed so calm. So serene. The complete opposite of what she felt on the inside. She looked up at the full moon, coldly shining down at her, as if mocking her.

It wasn't long before she felt a violent shiver go down her spine. It made her look to the West and see something glowing. Her curiosity got the better of her as she leapt off the cliff and landed on the beach below. It didn't take long to reach the source of the light.

Yusuke was standing there, looking out at the ocean, hands pressed together in a sort of meditative stance. A large glowing sphere surrounded him. The sphere crackled with energy and Yuki felt beads of sweat trickle down her back. This was strange, her gut told her. He wasn't this strong last time she checked.

She watched from a distance for about an hour, amazed at Yusuke's endurance. After that, she was surprised to see him draw the sphere into himself.

Then Kuwabara came tumbling down the cliff face clutching a sword hilt.

"Yo," Yusuke greeted.

"Don't give me that," Kuwabara replied, holding his head. He seemed to have hit it on the way down.

Yuki watched as they exchanged a few words, Kuwabara bragging about his "Super Dynamic Strong Spirit Sword". Then someone else joined in with a "You're as noisy a bastard as always."

Hiei appeared around a cliff, his right arm battered and bloody.

"You bastard! Don't startle us by showing up out of nowhere like that!" Kuwabara yelled, looking quite freaked.

 _He's like a mom fart,_ Yuki thought with a snicker. _Silent but deadly._

"What's the matter with your right arm?!" came Kuwabara again.

"It just wouldn't listen to what I told it to do, so I had to beat it around a little," Hiei replied, looking at said arm.

 _That is **not** how you make your arm listen to you._

"At any rate, all we need now is for Kurama to come along, and-" Kuwabara was cut off as a smoother voice took over.

"If you mean me, I'm already here. I have been for a while now."

Kurama looked over to where Yuki's hiding spot was. "As well as someone else. Come on out, Yuki."

Yuki could feel embarrassment flood her face. Great. She had been caught spying. Better get it over with.

"H-Hi..." she called, stepping out of the shadows.

"Yuki-chan? Even you were here?" Kuwabara seemed ready to faint.

"Sorry. I felt something and I wanted to investigate..."

She walked forward, joining in the odd ring the group had made.

"Um, where's your other fighter?" she asked, looking around. "I haven't seen her since yesterday."

Yusuke looked away. Everyone but Kuwabara had taken on a somber expression.

"She's not... Ba-san isn't... she won't be coming back today," Yusuke explained through clenched teeth.

Sensing that she had just walked into a can of freshly packed worms, Yuki took the hint and dropped the subject.

Nobody seemed willing to talk afterwards.

"Is..." Four sets of eyes looked up and watched Yuki. "Is there anything I can do?"

She had spoken so quietly that she hoped no one heard it. She looked up and saw that even Kurama's and Hiei's gazes had softened. She was used to being glared at by those bright eyes.

It was Yusuke who spoke first.

"Don't worry about it, Yuki. It's our business."

* * *

The day of the finals had arrived much too quickly. Yuki was being ushered into the arena too soon. It was too soon to fight. Not against _them._ It seemed exactly like the fight against Team Spirit Warrior. The only difference being that Sakyo had joined them.

He could barely register the crowd roaring for Team Toguro to kill Team Urameshi. He didn't even look up from the ground until he heard Juri's voice introduce the teams.

The masked fighter wasn't there.

"Um, it seems that Team Urameshi is missing a fighter," Juri began. "If you don't produce a fifth fighter, I'll have to disqualify you."

Juri stood silent for a while, waiting for the fifth fighter, but none came.

"As Team Urameshi is short of participants, we hereby declare Team Toguro to be the victors by default-"

"Hold it! I'm the fifth man!" a voice cut in.

The doors behind Team Urameshi began to open, smoke billowing out.

"What kind of strange Spirit Energy is this?" Kuwabara cried, faltering slightly.

"It's not Spirit Energy. It's just dry ice."

A tall man stepped out, a... pacifier stuck in his mouth. He wore blue clothes and a long red cape that flew behind him. He had brown hair and a Jr. tattooed on his forehead. Who was that?

"K-Koenma?!" Kuwabara pointed at the man.

"Act all important, will ya," Yusuke frowned.

The crowd seemed to grow restless at the mention of the newcomer's name.

"Who's Koenma?" Yuki wondered aloud.

"He's the ruler of the Spirit Realm," came the reply from Bui.

"Oh."

"Those of us who rule over the Spirit Realm do not normally become involved with matters of the lower realms. However, the situation being what it is, it seems I cannot help but participate," Koenma continued.

Kuwabara seemed to question Koenma's ability to fight, to which Koenma revealed a jetpack underneath his cape. Yuki had to laugh at that.

 _They're funny._

Juri seemed opposed to Koenma acting as a replacement for the masked fighter, who she called Genkai, but the other members of Team Toguro seemed fine with it.

"The final round's first match is between Contestant Karasu of Team Toguro, and Contestant Kurama of Team Urameshi!" Juri yelled into her microphone.

And so, the first round began.

* * *

 _ahhhhhhhhh I'm so sorry I didn't upload anything yesterday! I didn't have any internet! To make up for it, here's a doubly long chapter!_

 _NEXT TIME: EXPLOSION! THE YOKO AWAKENED_

 _DFTBA!_


	8. EXPLOSION! The Yoko Awakened!

Chapter Eight

* * *

 _SO hey. I'm really sorry for disappearing BUT it was for a good reason. I went to the Phoenix Comic-Con and got to see TeamFourStar! For... only an ...hour... STILL AWESOME. I also got this damned adorable keychain charm of Hiei during the con. I gush over it. So much. I also got a DBZ wallscroll but that's another story. AAAAAND I'm in Seattle. Visiting relatives. Currently. As I write this._

 _ANYWAY! ONWARDS! (am I the only one who gets embarrassed with watching an episode for reference?)_

* * *

"The final round of the Dark Tournament!" Juri yelled into the microphone.

The demoness raised a finger to the sky. "Round 1! Team Toguro's Contestant Karasu..!"

The tall black haired demon moved forward towards the ring.

"Versus Team Urameshi's...!" Juri gestured to the other side of the ring as Kurama stepped forward. "Contestant Kurama!"

Yuki began to hear the chanting of the crowd as the fighters entered the ring.

"The fiercely contested Dark Tournament has finally, finally entered its final round!" Koto's voice echoed throughout the stadium.

The small white-haired demon caught snippets of what the crowd was yelling out.

"Karasu! Don't you lose! Let him have it!"

"Kill that rotten Kurama!"

And such.

Soon the entire stadium was chanting a chilling mantra of, "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"Everyone in the stadium is unanimously cheering for Contestant Karasu of Team Toguro!" Koto's voice echoed again.

It had been hard to locate exactly where she was, but soon Yuki had spotted her, gripping the microphone.

The demoness announcer was interrupted when there was a slightly familiar voice shouting at her.

Yuki watched with uncovered amazement as the girls cheered the group on, getting dirty looks from the demons around them. It seemed like there was an oni mixed in with the girls...?

"They're certainly gutsy," Yuki laughed under his breath.

 _I never would've had that much courage to stand up in a crowd of murderous demons and cheer for the underdogs..._

Blue eyes flicked back to the stage where Yuki watched Kuwabara and Kurama exchange some words. They were talking about some sort of drink? But the conversation was over before Yuki could fully understand what they were talking about.

As the contestants approached each other on the stage, Juri began to lay some ground rules.

"Now then, I will go over the matters that require attention for these matches."

It wasn't long before she got some angry feedback from the audience to just start. And start it did.

"And now, the first match! Begin!"

The match began with Kurama producing some flower petals that swirled around him. It suited him, in a feminine sort of way.

After that, despite Yuki not knowing anything much about Karasu's power, it went down just as one might expect.

 _If they lose after all that bravado and protagonist talk, I am going to be quite annoyed._

* * *

The pressure Yoko Kurama exerted was astounding. Yuki would never have guessed something that powerful was hidden away in that red-head.

The beginning of the fight had been completely against Kurama, but now, it seemed as if the two fighters were on equal ground. Yoko produced something that he called the Ojigi weed of the Makai. He said it was aggressive, and attacked anything that moved on its own. A fearsome plant indeed.

Within seconds of being produced, the Ojigi weed went after Karasu. It opened one of its buds and revealed a teeth filled maw. Immediately, it dove after the black-haired demon.

Karasu began dodging the plant's attacks, only to find himself trapped when tendrils burst out from under the concrete. The Ojigi plant changed up its attack pattern when it began shooting what looked like red lightening bolts at Karasu. The demon threw another bomb at the plant, setting it aflame. The flame seemed to do the plant no harm, however, as it emerged from the fire and attacked Karasu once again.

The plant dove at Karasu and grabbed him with its leaves. Soon, the demon wasn't visible anymore, as the plant continued to cover him with leaves.

It was only when Karasu emerged from the plant that Yuki had an urge to run. Or at least use the other members of Team Toguro as some sort of a shield. Karasu seemed to be planning something dangerous.

His mask was gone. How that equated to dangerous, Yuki wasn't sure, but his instincts were sending warning sirens off in his head.

And then he went blonde. Like, Super Saiyan mode blonde.

 _Hello alien monkey race with a love for fighting. I didn't think you guys actually existed. Although it makes sense since this world revolves around killing. You wouldn't happen to have any multi-verse travelers would you, demon land?_

* * *

The match ended with a win for Team Toguro. Karasu was dead, and Kurama was down for the count.

 _I am mildly disappointed. I'm sure they'll get a comeback in the next round though._

The crowd had gone pretty much ballistic, cheering for Team Toguro to kill Team Urameshi. Yuki, of course, didn't participate in either side.

Next up was Hiei versus Bui. The armored giant seemed to be overwhelming to Yuki, but Hiei didn't even seemed fazed by the demon's size. (As a side note, Yuki noticed that Hiei had bound up his beaten and bloody arm)

The match started and the fighters were at it. Like anyone might care to think, Bui was a slow but heavy hitter, waving around a gigantic axe thing (and taking parts of the arena floor in the process). Hiei, as Yuki had gathered (mostly in fear of having to fight him) was fast. Very fast. He blurred across the ring, dodging all of Bui's attacks. After a while, he covered his left hand in flame and started punching at the incoming arena tiles.

Hiei punched at a tile, and it shattered, revealing Bui slicing downwards with his axe. Hiei punched the axe blade, and the weapon broke, the blade flying off into the arena stands. Bui conjured up another axe, which seemed to annoy the fire demon.

The armored demon threw the new axe and Hiei caught it, vaporizing it in a blast of heat that even Yuki felt.

 _These guys are ridiculous!_

Hiei and Bui exchanged some words, and Bui began to take off his armor.

"This is something even you haven't seen before, isn't that right, little Yuki," Older Toguro laughed. "What the demon under the armor looks like."

"I probably would've been fine not knowing, thank you," Yuki muttered.

Bui without armor, to say the least, was not what Yuki had been expecting. The little demon wasn't quite sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't a blue-haired non-horned man. With a scar on his forehead. He seemed like the kind of guy who would be a mentor to a protagonist or something. Not an armor wearing demon.

Yuki was also not expecting to be pushed back by the sheer force of Bui's glowing green power.

 _Yep. Would've been just fine not knowing._

Then the real fight began. Bui and Hiei were off sending energy attacks at one another, with Bui seeming to have the upper hand.

Yuki dug his nails into his palm, and drew blood.

 _If shorty loses then I'm on my own for getting away from these guys._

"What are you thinking about, Yuki?" Older Toguro's voice made Yuki spin around.

"Nothing you would interested in," he replied carefully.

"Oh? Anything that makes you injure yourself is interesting to me, little Yuki," the demon grinned.

There was the sound of more energy blasts going off into the arena.

"I was just thinking about how I want to fight," the white-haired demon fibbed.

Older Toguro narrowed his eyes and the smile dropped. "It's not nice of you to lie, little Yuki."

Yuki could feel long, cold fingers wrap around his wrist. There was the feeling of something cold yet hot crawling up his back from the fight.

"You'd best think twice about not listening to me, this time, little Yuki," Older Toguro warned when Yuki tried to pull his hand out of the tight grip. "That Hiei is going to use the Black Dragon Flame to fight Bui. If you, who has no experience in fighting, gets hit by it, then you'll almost certainly die."

"Why do you care?" Yuki asked, relaxing his arm a bit.

"Because you're my toy. I don't want you to break because I was neglectful," the demon pushed a stray strand of white hair out of Yuki's face tenderly.

Older Toguro hissed and withdrew his hand from Yuki's wrist. He glared at the bloody appendage.

"I am no one's toy," Yuki glared at the demon, sky blue eyes scarily blank. "I can take care of myself."

The white-haired demon willed his blood to crawl back up his arm and disappear underneath a black sleeve where it created a winding ruby armlet that connected to a cut right below Yuki's neck.

It wasn't until the sky had turned dark and black lightening flashed did Yuki finally turn back around to the fight and pale.

 _Crap baskets._

* * *

 _So since July is a busy time for me (summer school blech) I won't be uploading a lot. This is probably going to be the only chapter that I upload this month. Sorry!_

 _(I live off of revieeeeews... tell me what you think of this stoooooory...)_

 _NEXT TIME: ON THE RUN_


	9. On The Run

Chapter Nine

* * *

 _Sorry if this chapter seems a little fast paced or rushed, but I really wanted to get to Yuki's arc! And I swear I'm not trying to favor Hiei! He just kind of... gets more screentime. It also doesn't help that his fight with Bui is by far, my favorite battle of the entire series. (I kind of also laugh every time I see it because the animator totally gave Hiei a pudge face and it's so squishy and cute/childish looking and I can't help but do this high pitched whine whenever I see it ...I'M A FILTHY SINNER I KNOW)_

* * *

Black lightening crackled and the sky became stormy. Which, of course, is never a good sign.

Yuki watched as the spiky black haired demon summoned something from the depths of Hell. It was made of black flame and resembled an enormous winding dragon. The flaming mass writhed its way towards Bui and even though he caught it, he was being pushed back and out of the arena. Bui and the black dragon seemed to be pushing at each other until the blue haired demon... reflected the attack. Right back at Hiei.

Hiei, who had been standing on a crumbling piece of the arena wall, was directly hit. Swallowed, in fact. The flame dragon swallowed the short demon.

 _Dammit. That's not good. That's another win for Team Toguro and that means I'll have to rely on my-_ Yuki's thoughts were interrupted as the dragon faded and Hiei appeared healthy on the arena floor.

 _Wha-_

Bui, confused as to why the smaller demon hadn't been obliterated, began attacking relentlessly. Hiei was treated as a punching bag and thrown into the air, coming into contact with the ceiling (which was somehow still standing), but was completely and utterly unfazed by Bui's attacks.

Yuki felt a cold chill run down his spine when he felt the pressure the small black haired demon exuded.

* * *

A win and a loss. Bui's life had been spared, but it was a loss for Team Toguro. Yuki clenched his hand into a tight fist. Team Urameshi could actually win! If... they didn't lose anymore. They still had to get past the Toguro brothers.

Glancing upwards at the huge Younger Toguro, Yuki swallowed a lump in his throat. Yeah, no.

 _I really am going to have to escape on my own, aren't I?_

Next up to fight was the human Kuwabara and Older Toguro.

Things were looking bleak.

 _Maybe Kuwabara is really strong! Maybe he's the strongest one!_ Yuki desperately tried to think optimistically.

It didn't last long.

* * *

Despite what seemed like a futile effort, Kuwabara actually managed to win against Older Toguro. However, Sakyo, apparently being a gambling man, decided to place a hefty wager on the outcome of the next fight.

Should Younger Toguro fall, Sakyo would take his life. Should Yusuke Urameshi fall, Koenma would do the same.

 _Don't do it!_ Yuki wanted to shout. _You're my only way out of this awful team!_

But the deal was made, and the next round began. Only this time, two members might die instead of one.

* * *

A Toguro at 100% power was something not many people lived to tell the tale about. Yusuke, shocked by the fact that even a fully powered spirit gun blast couldn't even dent Toguro, was barely standing, looking quite battered.

A little less than half the stadium had been blown away by the final round, and many of the spectators were probably killed.

But while those who were dead were dead, many were about to die soon.

Toguro began consuming the souls of any and all demons in the vicinity. Team Urameshi was protected by Koenma, who erected a barrier, and the human girls in the stands were protected as well.

With some clever button pushing Sakyo prevented the fleeing spectators from leaving. Huge slabs of rock burst from the ground and towered over those who were unfortunate enough to have been slow enough.

Yusuke, enraged by this display, began to punch at Younger Toguro. The enormous demon didn't even flinch.

To their credit, some demons attempted to attack Toguro as well, but were blown to bits by an overwhelmingly powerful blast. The rest began to cheer on Yusuke, telling him that he better not lose.

 _They certainly switched sides quick enough,_ Yuki thought with a snort.

But the humor wasn't about to last. Toguro pounded Yusuke into the ground, making the teen cough up blood. Yuki noticed that the brunette girl he had seen with Yusuke the other day was crying and yelling something at the top of the stands.

 _She must be his girlfriend,_ Yuki realized with a start. _She's worried about him._

Toguro tossed an energy blast towards the group of girls, but it narrowly missed.

This seemed to anger Yusuke even more as he immediately began retaliating. The unfortunate teen was then thrown into a wall.

* * *

 _They won! They actually won!_ Yuki thought with a great big grin on his face.

It was a little unnerving to see Toguro's shriveled body lying a crater, but they won! Team Urameshi won!

And even Kuwabara, who Yusuke had thought to be dead, was alive. It was amusing to watch the two interact, and with all the tension leaving Yuki, he couldn't help but break out into a peal of laughter.

Team Urameshi looked over at the white haired demon, who was currently doubled over in laughter.

"Why are you laughing so much?" Yusuke grumbled, pausing his beat down on Kuwabara.

"I'm... relieved!" Yuki choked out. "You guys won! And yet here you are, acting like nothing changed!"

"Uh..."

* * *

But of course, when Sakyo said he would take his life, he so obviously meant "oh yeah I'm also going to blowing up the entire stadium, too! tehe" Which ended with a lot of panicked screaming. And panicked running... and panicked dying... the whole package.

Yuki was fleeing as well, when he noticed that Team Urameshi were dawdling at the top of the stands with their female friends. Feeling obligated, the white haired demon made no hesitation in running up the seats and yelling, "Do you guys _want_ to be crushed?! Get out of here!"

Duty done, Yuki sped down the hall but soon found a crowd. The way was blocked.

"What's going on? Why isn't anyone moving?" Yuki heard a voice from behind him shout.

It was Team Urameshi.

"The hall is blocked," Yuki ground out.

They were saved when another team (that Team Urameshi seemed to be acquainted with) burst through from the other side, making a large hole for an escape route.

"Thanks," Yuki told one of the members as he sped past.

"No problem!" the red headed demon called after him.

It wasn't long before he and everyone else had escaped when the rest of the stadium finally exploded.

* * *

Everything had been going just fine, with Yuki giving one last goodbye to the hotel room when things got ugly. Koenma, prince of the Spirit World, had decided to pay a visit. He was accompanied by the peppy blue haired girl and a blue demon.

"Can I help you?" Yuki asked, wondering why royalty would visit her.

"Yes, you can, as a matter of fact," the tall, pacifier sucking man replied. "I want to know why you exist."

Yuki felt his eyebrows press together. "What?"

"We have no record of you. Living or otherwise," he clarified. "So tell me, why do you exist?"

* * *

 _Ok, so I know this chapter is shorter than usual, but I just really wanted to get to the meat of things. Plus, I'm kinda pressed for time. I'm going to be moving and transferring schools so that's been taking up the majority of my time. And I really didn't want to drag this story out. So this story will probably not go over ~70 chapters. If even that. But on to more pressing matters!_

 _I'm going to be holding a poll for The Puppeteer's Play on the matters of... (drumroll please) ROMANCE! Yes, that's right, I'm going to put in romance! Which is why there's a poll. I have no clue who I want Yuki to be paired with. Which is why I'm asking for help! If you don't see the character you want Yuki to paired with, shoot me a review/message and I'll put it in! The poll will end **August 5, 2016 at 12pm Mountain Standard Time**._

 _NEXT TIME: TRANSIENT FEELING_

 _DFTBA!_


	10. Transient Feeling

Chapter Ten

* * *

 _I ended up deciding to rewrite this... I just felt uncomfortable about that literal collar..._

* * *

When the ruler of the afterlife comes calling, normally you obey, right? And in order to even be called, you have to alive first, right? So then why, by all standard definitions of "life", was this so called "Yuki the shapeshifter" not even in existence?

This was the question.

An annoying and possibly job-ending question.

That plagued Koenma for days.

...Ok, not quite _days_ but with the amount of shuffling through papers he had been doing, it felt like it. It was probably closer to _day_ than _days._ One, singular, goddamned day.

Maybe he was going a little insane.

Yuki did not exist anywhere in Spirit World's files. Not even a whisper. Yuki was a literal enigma. Nothing about him was known (Koenma honestly wasn't sure if the demon was male or female, but demons in general can be a little hard to tell even if Yuki's androgynous body made it even worse... shapeshifters of his caliber normally didn't have set genders, but goodness this was going to get hard...) except his appearance (which probably wouldn't stay set for any given amount of time so it was unreliable) and name.

"George!" the Spirit Ruler yelled, his babyish voice bouncing off the walls and hallways.

"Yes sir?" the blue ogre poked his head through the door, carrying more files.

"Put those back," Koenma sighed, waving his hand. "It doesn't look like I'll be finding anything about this 'Yuki' character unless I directly ask."

"Are you sure...? I got every file I could, excluding the vaulted ones, of course, and these were hard to carry back-"

"Just do it!"

"Yes sire!"

* * *

"So you're a shapeshifter?" Botan asked, tilting her head.

Yuki nodded. He was beginning to grow tired of her pestering. Maybe it was under orders, but god, he wished she would stop. He could only deal with people like her for minutes and then it was too much. She reminded him of the giggling girls that formed loud, obnoxious gaggles at lunch with their heavy make-up and cheerleader-like clothes (too short and too bright). Maybe not as bitchy, but definitely loud.

"Are you like Toguro or what?"

He shrugged.

"You're pretty quiet."

A single shoulder shrug.

"Is your hair naturally that color, or do you make it like that?"

Nothing.

"Are you ignoring me now? You're ignoring me, aren't you. Rude."

"Please leave me alone," Yuki whisper begged.

"Botan- _san,_ " an ogre guard called from outside the cell.

"Yes?"

"Lord Koenma requests that you "either get your butt back to work or escort our guest to me".

"Why is everyone so rude today?" the blue haired Grim Reaper huffed, fixing her kimono and extending a hand to Yuki. "C'mon, we've got to go see Lord Koenma about your situation now."

* * *

Koenma was surprised to see the change in Yuki. Previously, their face had been rather animated, but now their eyes were half-lidded and unfocused. Nothing else about them changed, but it felt like Koenma was looking at a prisoner that had been in a cell for years.

He cleared his throat and his mind before beginning.

"Demon Yuki, as far as any research goes, I have not found any record of your existence in our archives. Thus, you are deemed as a 'ghost' to us."

"Ghost? Last I checked, I was still alive," Yuki narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, well, I don't quite mean literally," Koenma coughed into his hand. "You're a ghost in the sense that we don't have a record of you. And yet here you are."

"Ok..."

"Even so, we normally don't tolerate ghosts since they have been known to keep a bad track record." The Spirit World ruler pressed his hands together. "However. I am going to give you a chance. I am going to call in a specialist and see if you are telling the truth about your memory."

 _A specialist._ "What happens if I fail this test?"

"If you fail, then you will be executed immediately."

 _Yikes._

* * *

The specialist, as it turned out, was the black haired demon known as Hiei. When he was brought in and saw Yuki bound in chains and sitting on a chair, his red eyes narrowed and he gritted his teeth.

"I didn't come here to play your little detective game, Koenma," he snarled.

"If you cooperate, then I will give you 100 years without persecution," the little toddler shot back without batting an eye.

Hiei seemed to think about the offer before he frowned and turned back to Yuki. "Let's just get this over with."

"I completely agree," Yuki nodded.

It was just a little unnerving to see the small demon taller than Yuki, but more than that, it was the glowing spot underneath the bandana. Which was wuickly torn off and revealed a horizontal slit that opened up into a third eye.

 _Ooh boy._

 _Shut up._

Yuki frowned. A voice?

"I said shut up," Hiei snarled, red eyes shut.

 ** _Oh._**

Red eyes snapped open and Yuki jumped in his seat a little.

" _Shut. Up._ "

"Ok..."

 _You're already unbearably loud with your voice._

 _Am I?_

Yuki felt mildly amused.

Hiei's eyes shot open again and he leaned in.

" _Stop. Thinking._ "

"What does that mean?" Yuki wrinkled his nose. "If I stop thinking, I'll die."

"Stop thinking at _me_ you idiot."

"Ok, alright. I'll try."

Yuki figured he meant to not think about anything specific. To just sit and relax. Which probably could've been easier without the constant itch in his brain. And it felt like said itch was moving around but not going deeper.

"Is it possible to finish this anytime tonight?" Koenma mumbled.

Apparently, Koenma had said something that made the itch go away and Hiei glare at the ruler.

"Maybe if she stops putting up barriers," he growled.

 _She?_

"Hey, what do you mean by 'she'?" Yuki butt in.

"She? I never said that," Hiei's glare went to Yuki.

 _Then why did I hear 'she'? I should be male right now._

"You said it."

"I did not. Now shut up. It's hard enough to do this without you talking."

* * *

"Well?" Koenma asked after Hiei put the bandana back on.

"She's telling the truth. To an extent," came his reply.

"What does that mean?" Koenma and Yuki chorused.

"Her memories are jumbled. Some are recent and vivid, like the tournament, others are simply snapshots. All of Demon World."

"What?" Yuki wondered aloud. "But I've never been to 'Demon World'."

"What were these 'snapshots' of?" Koenma asked.

"A mechanical city. A white room. A mask. Now, are we done?" Hiei narrowed his eyes.

"One more question. Were they anything you recognized?"

"No."

"Very well. You may go."

* * *

"You passed the test, but just barely. We still have no idea what those memories of yours are. And since you claim to have never been to Demon World, we are at impasse," Koenma sighed, folding his hands.

"So I'm free to go...?" Yuki asked.

"No. I am placing you under supervision so that we can keep an eye on you."

"I'm being placed under house arrest, in other words."

"Yes. You will be given a tracking device that you are required to wear. It doesn't matter where."

* * *

House arrest, as it turned out, was more like a temple arrest. Yuki's parole officer was a little old woman with faded pink hair. His ankle monitor was a little hoop earring that he couldn't take off. Now he sat in a little kitchen with Botan and getting... "acquainted".

"So this is the 'ghost', huh?" the little old woman narrowed her eyes at him (a lot of people seemed to be doing that lately).

"Yup!" Botan chirped. "This is Yuki, Genkai- _san_!"

"Yuki, huh? Fitting."

"Thank you...?"

"First things first, _Yuki_ , you aren't the only demon in this house, and if you even think about going on a rampage, I will be there to personally introduce you to my fist and the ground. And trust me, your relationship will be intimate. Understand?"

Yuki nodded. _Grandma Genkai seems a little scary. Best to avoid her bad side._

"Yukina!" Genkai called, facing the inside of the house. "Come here!"

"Yes, Genkai- _san_?" a soft voice came from outside the kitchen. A small blue haired girl with bright red eyes emerged.

"Oh!" Yukina gasped.

And suddenly, the entire world had flipped.

* * *

 _Heeeeeey! So I slipped in some references that I absolutely would love for people to guess. I'm going to give you a hint as to one of the references. "Stop thinking at me, you idiot." This is the reference. I'm giving this one a hint, since it's probably the hardest one._

 _So for those of you who read the previous incarnation of this chapter. I hated that chapter. Which is why it doesn't exist anymore and this one has taken its place. This chapter is much better. For those of you who didn't see the previous incarnation... good. Trust me._

 _Anyway, on to speaking about some things. The reason why Yuki heard "she" was because the translator not only translates words. It translates the intended meaning. There aren't any pronouns (like she or he) in Japanese. The closest you get is with "koitsu" and "konoko". And those aren't really pronouns. However Hiei doesn't use those. Not to differentiate at least. His way of speaking is rougher and a little more scathing. The reason why Yuki heard "she" was because Hiei was speaking 'about' a girl. When Yuki asks about it, they use "konoko". Which of course, is not what Hiei said. He's not a tsundere. Not in this fic._

 _Onto the other topic I wanted to talk about. Hiei scans Yuki's mind to find out whether or not they're telling the truth about losing memories. This theory is still a work in progress, but here it is. What Hiei technically scanned was the body's mind. Like muscle memory. He didn't quite scan all of Yuki's mind. What he did scan was the most recent events. The tournament. These are still being processed, and thus haven't been sealed away. As for why they're sealed, that's another matter. The barriers that Yuki puts up are mental ones. Melanie didn't really have a good mental state. Her mind has been put into the demon's but it still works as hers (for now). I hope that explains some stuff._

 _Wow this end note is long. I'm sorry. Really._

 _NEXT TIME: INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS_

 _DFTBA! :)_


	11. Intimate Relationships

Chapter Eleven

* * *

 _Please go read ch 10 because I made major changes and you won't get ch 11 if you dooon't_

* * *

Having one's face pressed into the wood floors of a temple was not the most amazing experience. In fact, it was actually quite painful. Along with the hold Yuki's parole officer currently had him in.

"Genkai- _san_! Please let Yuki- _san_ go!"

The blue haired she-demon, Yukina, had her pretty features scrunched up in worry.

"Then what was with that reaction?" Genkai ground out.

"It was just shocking to see Yuki- _san_! We met at the tournament! Don't you remember him?"

"Of course I remember him. He was with Toguro's team. You'll have to excuse some gaps since I did _die._ "

"You died?" Yuki puffed out.

It was hard to breathe with someone trying to make your body one with the floor.

"I did, and it doesn't mean I can't kick your sorry demon ass if you try anything."

But finally, she let go.

"Thank you for letting me up," Yuki nodded to the old woman.

Genkai crossed her arms and went back to sitting at the table. Said table had been knocked over in her rush at the shapeshifter and she quickly righted it.

"So? What does Koenma want me to do with him?" she addressed Botan, frowning.

"Well, Yuki will be placed here at the temple so there's someone watching him at all times. We don't want him to go berserk here in the Human World after all."

"Why don't you just send him back to Demon World, then? I don't have time for free-loaders."

"There's no one there that Lord Koenma trusts with this... 'threat to security' as he put it."

"But a washed up old woman he trusts? Something is seriously wrong with your lord's thinking."

"Well..." Botan visibly deflated.

"And I told you that I don't have time for free-loaders. Find someone else."

"Lord Koenma told me that you can put him to work! And if he steps out of line, you can do anything short of killing!"

"Oh?"

"Excuse me? I don't agree with that," Yuki cut in.

"With what?" Genkai asked, her frown deepening. "Just to remind you, demon, you are in my house and you aren't in any position to complain."

"The anything short of killing. That implies you can torture me, as long as I don't die from it. And I very much dislike that idea."

"But you're ok with being under house arrest and being put to work?"

"Uh, I guess? I mean it's understandable. Doesn't mean I like it."

"And this idiot's a demon?" The pink haired old woman shook her head. "Fine. Tell Koenma that I'll do it."

"Oh good! Then you'll be needing this," Botan handed Genkai a little device that looked like a phone.

"What is it?"

"It's a locater that's connected to the tracker on Yuki. If he goes out of the parameters you've set, then you'll get an alert."

"Hm."

"I'll be off then! Have to go report to Lord Koenma and all! Be seeing you!"

And just like that, Botan had hopped on her boat paddle and zoomed off.

"Yukina, do you mind making an extra portion for the idiot?"

The she-demon, who had been standing off to one side silently, shook her head and smiled. "I don't mind at all, Genkai- _san._ "

"Then I'll take the new idiot on the house tour."

"I prefer being called Yuki."

"Yuki and Yukina. I'm calling you 'idiot' whether you like it or not."

* * *

Yuki would be staying in relatively small room. The floor was covered in something called ' _tatami'_ and Genkai made a fuss about taking off shoes before entering. The bed was a ' _futon mattress'_ that could be folded up and put away into a closet. Breakfast was at 6 am sharp, and if you missed any meals, it was your loss. Lunch was at 12 and dinner at 6.

"I don't care if you don't like sleeping here, but that's what you'll do if I'm to be keeping an eye on you," Genkai took a puff from her pipe.

"It's fine," Yuki replied. "And smoking will kill you."

"Not like I'm getting any younger," Genkai smirked. "What's it to you?"

"I don't like the smell."

"Oh really?" And just to taunt Yuki, she blew a cloud right in his face. She put it out nonetheless.

"You're one strange demon," she waved, exiting the room.

* * *

The rest of the evening went by and morning came unceremoniously. Yuki was slightly groggy waking up, but managed to fully awaken by the time Yukina had come to fetch him from his room.

She caught him at an embarrassing moment though. Yuki had been trying to fold the futon but gave up and resorted to stuffing it into the closet. He was in the middle of said stuffing when Yukina entered the room.

"Yuki- _san_? What are you doing?"

"Um. I..."

"I'll teach you how to fold the _futon_ properly so you can put it away next time," she smiled, taking the pile from him.

It took Yukina three folding demonstrations before Yuki had memorized the folds. By then, Genkai had come up to see what had happened to Yukina, and saw Yuki folding the futon while Yukina gently urged him on.

"Very good, Yuki- _san_!" the she-demon smiled when Yuki managed to make a slightly sloppier version of Yukina's folded futon. "You'll get it perfect eventually. For now, let's put them away and go down for breakfast."

"Thank you for helping me," Yuki smiled awkwardly.

"It was no problem at all," Yukina smiled back.

Breakfast consisted of miso soup, grilled fish, rice, and some sort of pickled radish? It was pretty good, all in all. Genkai and Yukina _had_ looked at Yuki strangely when he began eating almost immediately. Apparently he was supposed to say a prayer before eating? Yuki wasn't sure since Genkai had called him an idiot when he didn't understand her first attempt at an explanation. Yukina just smiled and shrugged, saying it was all right.

Yuki's first chore was to help Yukina out with her chores. Which were cleaning dishes, laundry, and cooking. When those were done, he would help Genkai with moving things. Mostly items that had been kept in storage. She never left him alone when he was doing this, and it made Yuki wonder what he was moving.

Then it was showing her his abilities.

"So you can manipulate your blood?" She asked, watching the display of blood weapons.

"Yeah."

"Hm."

"Anything else you can do? Can you fight?"

"I can fight."

"Then show me," Genkai crouched low and went into a fighting stance. "Let's see how well you fight."

"Do I just... go... or...?" Yuki shuffled his feet awkwardly.

"Yes."

"Um. I don't exactly... _know_ how to ...fight...?" Yuki could feel incredulous and judging eyes that made him want the ground to swallow him up.

"You... don't know _how_ to fight? How did you... never mind." Genkai waved off her sentence and made a fist. "Just do your best against me."

Yuki never got a chance to reply, as she rushed forward and threw a punch. Before he knew what he was doing, Yuki realized he had gotten away somehow and was dodging all of Genkai's assault.

"Not bad for someone who claims they don't know how to fight," she grinned, hopping away.

"Are... we done?" Yuki questioned, seeing her move backwards.

"For now. You better go and help Yukina prepare dinner. We have guests tonight."

"Guests? Hey- wait!"

The little old woman was gone, presumably to go off and do whatever, way too spry for their ages, cranky old women did. But Yuki obeyed and went back inside the temple, heading for the kitchen.

"Yukina?" he called.

"I'm in here, Yuki- _san!"_ came the answer.

The she-demon was cutting up some vegetables as Yuki appeared.

"Do you need any help?"

"No, I'm alright for now. I'll have to juggle things in a while though, so you might want to stay close."

"Yukina, you're way too nice," Yuki commented, after a while of watching her cook.

"Excuse me?" Yukina turned to face Yuki.

"You helped me put the bed away even though you didn't have to. You could've just left me to it."

"You seemed like you were in trouble, and it's only natural to help someone if they need it," the ice demoness smiled.

"...is that so...?"

* * *

 _Happy Halloween everybody! It's a little late, but oh well!_


	12. Guests

Chapter Twelve

* * *

 _Oh my goooood I haven't updated since Octobeeeeeer I'm so sooorrrry. I know a lot of people aren't all that interested in this story like STSG but this one is sorta my passion project. ANyway, quick update, I've moved (and will move again sometime this year ugh yay) and went to London on a family trip (didn't get to see TomSka my favorite British youtuber but that's ok I got to see other things and be an HP nerd). Moving on to the story (that is long overdue and I am so sorry)_

* * *

"Yuki-san, could you help me wash the vegetables?" Yukina pointed to a bag of cucumbers, carrots, and other veggies in a bag on the counter.

"Sure," Yuki made his way over to the counter and took the knife the small demoness handed him.

"If you don't mind me asking, do you know who's coming over for dinner tonight?" Yuki asked, chopping a particularly long cucumber.

The ice demoness seemed shocked. "Genkai-san didn't tell you?"

"Ah, no she didn't tell me anything about who was coming over."

"Oh." Yukina looked away. "Koenma has sent some people over to help watch over you during your trip to Demon World."

"Trip to Demon World?" Yuki repeated. "Sorry, what?"

"She didn't tell you about that either?" She looked back his way and then averted her gaze once more. "I apologize."

The white haired shapeshifter was puzzled. "What are you apologizing for?"

"Well..."

"Yukina-chan!" cried a voice from near the entrance to the kitchen.

The orange haired human from the tournament came barreling in with neither grace nor subtlety.

"Hello Kuwabara-san," Yukina smiled.

"Oh hey, you're that demon that we met at the tournament!" Kuwabara pointed his finger at Yuki once he noticed they weren't alone.

"Er, hi again," Yuki awkwardly waved.

"How's it going?"

"Well... aside from having my every move recorded and being watched by what is probably the scariest old lady on the face of the planet, fine."

"Preach man!" came a new voice.

This one belonged to the black haired human named Yusuke.

"I know how you feel dude," Yusuke laughed, pushing his way into the now crowded kitchen.

"Is everyone from Team Urameshi here?" Yuki asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well duh!"

The white haired demon shrugged in response.

"Yuki-san, why don't you let me handle the cooking for now?" Yukina told him.

"Will you be ok doing everything on your own?" Yuki looked back at the demoness.

"Yes, of course. I believe Genkai and the others will want to speak with you."

"Yup! 'S why I came back here in the first place. Koenma wants us all gathered so he can brief us," Yusuke grinned.

"Brief us?" Yuki parroted.

"For our mission."

"Oh."

"No one told you?"

A shrug. "I'm getting used to it."

* * *

"Hello, Yuki," Koenma's voice greeted.

"You're Koenma?" Yuki asked.

The Koenma he knew looked like a toddler with a pacifier. This Koenma looked like a young man in his early to mid 20s doing some sort of deranged cosplay.

"Yes?"

"Oh."

"You like to say that a lot don't ya," Yusuke snickered.

Yuki glanced at the Spirit Detective before looking around.

The long haired red head, Kurama, sat on a couch sipping a cup of tea, Yusuke sat on the same couch grinning, Kuwabara sat on a single recliner looking mildly out of his element, while the black haired demon, Hiei, leaned against the far wall next to a window.

"So, I've gathered you five here because of a lead I have concerning Yuki," Koenma started, sucking on his pacifier a little. "I've found someone that is an original Jagan user."

Yuki wasn't sure what a 'Jagan' was, but it certainly seemed to be interesting to the others since they all perked up at it.

"A Jagan user?" Kurama asked, setting his cup gently onto the coffee table in front of him. "A natural one?"

"Indeed," Koenma replied. "It's a demon that has rarely been seen and practically impossible to find."

"Before you go any further, am I allowed to know what a 'Jagan' is?" Yuki raised his hand.

Koenma's eyebrows furrowed together as he silently debated whether or not he should.

"You've already seen one," he finally sighed. "Back when you were first interrogated."

Yuki glanced over at Hiei who's fiery red eyes screamed distaste.

"It's a third eye?" Yuki turned back to Koenma.

"Yes. It allows the user to read minds and sense energies, among other things."

The white haired demon didn't miss the slightly nervous glance the Spirit World ruler shot at Hiei.

"Oh. So what does that have to do with me?"

Koenma's face turned serious. "You are going to be interrogated for a second time." He turned to Yusuke. "You four are going to take Yuki to the demon for the interrogation."

"What? Why all four?" Yusuke complained. "I should be enough to take care of him by myself!"

"I would assume the reason is that he could have accomplices that could easily overtake you. Remember Yusuke, there are demons out there stronger than you and I," Kurama commented.

Koenma nodded. "Precisely."

"So? When do we go?" Yusuke asked after a little bit of grumbling.

"Preferably as soon as possible. The demon isn't known for staying in one spot for very long, and flees when someone gets close."

"So I guess we'll be leaving in the morning," the detective sighed. "Great."

"Did you have plans, Yusuke?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah. Keiko and I were sort of planning on going to a movie. But it looks like I'll be in the doghouse soon."

"You should give her some flowers when you get back," Yuki commented.

Yusuke raised an eyebrow and scoffed. "What? Will that make her forgive me?"

"No, definitely not. But she'll be more likely to be lenient in her punishment. And you should make sure to take her on another, preferably better, date."

"Yuki does have a point Yusuke," Kurama smiled. "You should make it up to her."

The Spirit Detective rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'll take her out on a date when I get back."

Kurama turned back to Koenma. "Koenma, I was wondering why you haven't made contact with this demon. If we had a prior 'appointment', wouldn't this be a lot easier?"

The Spirit World Ruler cleared his throat. "Actually, there's a very good reason for that. We did try to contact the demon. The problem is that it's very... anxious. It killed most of the few messengers I sent."

"I see. And what became of the ones that returned?"

"There was only one that came back. He said that the message was successfully delivered, but it didn't seem that the demon cared... or actually, understood."

"So it's dumb?" Yusuke made a face. "Then how is it supposed to interrogate Mr. Unknown over here?"

"I find it very unlikely that it's of a lower intelligence, Yusuke," Kurama glanced at him. "There must be another reason."

"I thought so as well so I did some digging, and as it turned out, these creatures have a very low fertility rate. And an even lower rate of carrying offspring to term. The demon must have a child. Or at least is prepared to have one."

"Gross," Yusuke stuck out his tongue.

"It's nature. Suck it up, Urameshi," Kuwabara frowned.

"So you want me to be interrogated by a pregnant, currently insane, murderous demon?" Yuki tried to keep his voice even, although it almost broke at the 'murderous' part. "Did I get all that right?"

Koenma shifted in his seat. "Er, well, when you put it like that it certainly does seem awful."

"I think I have to agree with Yuki on this. Koenma, this is too risky, even for you," Kurama cut in.

"I'm well aware of the risks I'm asking you four to take," Koenma hung his head. "And I can't tell you the reasons why, but this is low compared to what might happen if you don't do this."

"And I really don't want to have to do this, but I will force you all to take him if I have to," the Spirit World Ruler raised his head back up and stared ahead with cold brown eyes. "This isn't a mission I can afford to fail."

 _I'm certainly becoming more and more of a potential enemy, aren't I?_

"Hold up, does that mean I have to go too?" Kuwabara raised his hand.

"No. You weren't under my employment to begin with, so you're exempt from this," Koenma replied.

The pompadour teen gave a deep sigh of relief. "Thank god."

* * *

Dinner was strained that night, what with a high risk mandatory mission hanging over the heads of humans and demons alike. Genkai seemed content to eat and sip tea like usual while Yukina tried her best to keep spirits up. Kuwabara was happy to compliment her cooking, even if he was also feeling down. Kurama seemed deep in thought for the majority of the meal and up until he politely excused himself to his room. Yusuke had called Keiko and told her he was leaving, and even though there was some very loud yelling on the other end, there was a tearful goodbye and a quiet wish for him to come back safe. Hiei had gone off immediately after Koenma had left the temple. Probably punching trees or whatever else an angsty emo demon did to blow off steam. Yuki ate less than usual, and even though Yukina obviously noticed it, she didn't make a comment.

It was very early in the evening when Yuki excused himself and went to his room.

 _So I have to go to 'Demon World' to get interrogated by a psychopath, and I'm probably connected to a dangerous plot, if the whole "I will force you if I have to" deal from Koenma was anything to go off of._

The white haired demon felt a twinge in his neck as he thought of the frosty, detached look Koenma had given the group. He absently rubbed the spot as he tried to focus on other things, like creating a new, more familiar weapon.

* * *

 _Nice to see you again, **Yuki**._

Melanie opened her eyes and was greeted by the white blankness for the first time in a while.

"I was wondering where you went."

 _I've been with you, don't worry. I just didn't want to interrupt all the fun._

"I'm going to interrogated by a pregnant psychopath demon. In all honesty, that's not what I call fun."

 _I think it's great fun! I love watching Koenma and his little detective group! They're all so much fun._

"You've met them?"

 _I know them, yes._

"Do you plan on giving me any advice for this?"

 _Not really, no. Did you want some?_

"Kind of. I am, after all, risking my life for your entertainment. The least you could do is help me survive."

 _Oh don't worry. Mitsu won't hurt you._

"Mitsu?"

 _The demon? The interrogator? Ring any bells?_

"Oh."

 _Anyway, Mitsu is harmless. She won't do anything to you. Probably._

"Probably?"

 _She's shielding herself from me. I can't see her right now._

"I thought you were God?"

 _Even **I** can't do anything about a true Jagan user actively trying to block me._

"Why does everyone keep saying 'true, natural, or original Jagan user'?"

 _Well, you remember little Hiei, don't you?_

"Yeah?"

 _He's an artificial user._

"Artificial?"

 _He had his Jagan surgically implanted._

"Oh."

 _Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have told you that._

"What? Why?"

 _Don't you want to befriend them? It wouldn't do to know everything beforehand. That wouldn't be interesting, now would it?_

"I guess..."

 _Anyway, I should let you get some rest. Can't have the detective group getting suspicious, now can we? Oh, and I forgot to mention, take everything Mitsu says with a grain of salt. She likes to play tricks._

* * *

Even though Yuki was reassured by the weird voice's advice, he still felt scared of going through the very ominous looking hole in the fabric of space. It was dark and gleamed a sick purple.

"Everyone all set?" Yusuke called out, stretching his arms.

"I believe so," Kurama replied, glancing at the rest of the group.

"Even though this is mandatory, please stay safe," Koenma sucked on his pacifier a little harder than usual.

"You better come back alive, Urameshi! I don't want to have to go in there and drag your beaten ass out!" Kuwabara shouted.

"Oh don't worry, Kuwabara! I'll come back and give your orange hide a good lickin', so don't you go chickening out on me!" The Detective returned, grinning.

Yuki smiled a little at their antics before turning back to the portal.

 _Well, here goes everything._

* * *

 _Holy feces on a piece of toast was this chapter hard to write! But I'm proud of it. It's probably one of the best ones I've written... ever! Mitsu was a creation I had when I was drawing some of my favorite things and I thought she was a great addition to the universe. Don't worry, she isn't a Mary Sue. (Although I worry that Yuki /Melanie is a little bit of one) In fact, Mitsu is the least human creature I have come up with to date. Oops, was that a spoiler? Oh well._

 _Anyway, I always wondered if there were natural Jagan users. Hiei had his implanted, and they never show one (in the show at least, Raigo was a natural user but I don't know how canon to treat him) aside from him._

 _NEXT TIME: DEMON WORLD_

 _DFTBA!_


	13. Demon World

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

 _Does anyone else just really like chokers and how they look but hate how uncomfortable they are? I bought a Sailor Moon one from Hot Topic (it was way too expensive but it's so cute) and it fits nicely, but something about it makes me feel uncomfortable. FYI, I don't normally wear necklaces of any kind. The few times I have, they've been long chains with relatively light pendants._

* * *

Stepping through the portal and coming out to the other side was jarring, to say the least. The ride was uncomfortable in the worst way and quite disorienting. It was like taking 5 steps forward and becoming ridiculously tired. It seemed that the other three fared better than Yuki, though, seeing as all Yusuke could do was open his mouth wide and look around. Kurama seemed cautious but not scared, and Hiei looked more content than Yuki had ever thought was possible (which in hindsight, wasn't actually all that much).

"So this is Demon World, huh?" Yusuke whistled. "Looks pretty nice."

Yuki was inclined to agree. Even though the sky was a blood red, the portal had dropped them off in a relatively scenic area filled with giant trees and colorful flowers.

"Yes, but be careful of the plants, Yusuke," Kurama glanced at a small yellow flower at his feet. The petals opened to show off jagged teeth. It hissed and lunged at the red head's foot, but Kurama quickly killed it by stepping on it. "They may look harmless, but as with everything here, it never is."

"If we're surrounded by those things, I think we should leave before they all start to wake up," Yuki commented, looking around.

"I agree," Kurama nodded. "We should move quickly. Our target should be nearby."

"We can get a good look around if get up into the trees," Yusuke pointed upwards. "They're pretty big."

"Yes, that's a good idea," the red head smiled, reaching for a nearby branch and hoisting himself up.

Hiei shot up in a blur and stopped several hundred feet above on a thick branch.

Yusuke grinned and grabbed another tree branch and did the same as Kurama, pulling himself up and reaching for the next one. Yuki watched them climb higher and higher before stepping towards a tree.

"Hurry up Yuki!" Yusuke yelled from above.

The white haired demon pulled himself up into the tree and started ascending as fast as he could, the leaves blurring. In almost no time, he emerged at the top of the canopy and looked around. Hiei was already standing in his tree, bandana off and eyes closed.

A second later, Kurama and Yusuke emerged.

"Wow! You're fast!" The black haired Spirit Detective laughed. "I didn't think you had it in you!"

"Have you found it, Hiei?" Kurama asked the shorter demon.

Hiei shrugged. "I can't tell. I'm getting blocked and can't pinpoint anything."

 _So even he's having issues trying to find Mitsu._

"Is it a mental barrier?"

The black haired demon shrugged again, putting on his bandana.

"Then how are we supposed to find it?" Yusuke groaned.

"You could try jumping off the tree and seeing where you land," Hiei growled.

Yuki couldn't help it. He snorted.

Brown, green, and red eyes all stared at him.

"Sorry," Yuki mumbled.

"Hey! You have a sense of humor! Good to know you're not just a way cuter version of shorty," Yusuke grinned and then frowned. "It's not gay to say that right? Since you're also a girl?"

"I can change if that makes you feel better?" Yuki tilted his head.

"Uh, yeah. That would definitely make me feel better about the whole thing."

The Spirit Detective watched in fascination as Yuki's chest inflated and puffed out. Then he frowned again.

"Are those bigger than before?" he asked.

Yuki looked down and frowned as well. "Weird. They are."

"If you're all done with this, we need to move," Hiei snarled. "There's a group coming towards us."

"Hostile?" Kurama asked, reaching into his hair.

The shorter demon didn't respond, only pulled out his sword. Kurama seemed to take that as a yes and pulled a whip out of his hair. Yusuke grinned and pounded his fists together.

"You can fight like that, right?" Yusuke inclined his head towards Yuki.

She nodded. "I can fight."

The group immediately dove under the canopy and dropped towards the ground at alarming speeds. Hiei and Kurama landed softly while Yusuke and Yuki landed fairly heavily.

"You may look like Hiei, but you sure as hell aren't as graceful as he is," Yusuke snickered, glancing over at Yuki, who began to turn red.

"Shut up, detective," the aforementioned demon growled.

Kurama took a moment to smile before turning to Yuki. "Actually, how well do you think you could take on a group by yourself?"

Yuki thought for a moment. "As long as it's not too big, I guess I could do it."

The red head turned to Hiei. "How big is the group?"

"Five, maybe six."

Kurama turned back to Yuki.

"Doable," she responded.

"Then would anyone mind if we left this to Yuki?" he asked the other two.

Yusuke shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

Hiei seemed more than a little against it. "And what if these are her comrades?"

"You can see if they are, can't you?" Kurama smiled.

The black haired demon growled but sheathed his sword. "I refuse to help out if she can't handle it or if I'm right."

It didn't take long before the group of six demons came through. They looked grotesque and large, with extra limbs carrying dangerous looking weapons. Yuki tossed her backpack to Yusuke. "Hold this, will you?"

"You don't need it?"

She shook her head, before lifting herself back up into the tree. Yuki made her way towards the group of demons and began her attack.

Her first target, and subsequent source of weaponry was a demon with a tough looking body and four arms carrying clubs and a crude sword. Yuki concentrated on making his blood harden and become sharper and sharper before it began to pierce the veins.

The demon made a face and seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable. It wasn't long before his blood pierced his flesh and began gushing out in large streams. He screamed and tried to stop the bleeding, dropping his weapons and trying to cover the holes. It was a futile effort as he dropped to the ground in the puddle of blood, dead.

His comrade with four legs shouted, "Ambush!" and all the other demons readied themselves.

Yuki concentrated on making the blood into sharp limbs and the puddle slowly rose and formed sharpened tentacles. The white haired demon frowned, because that wasn't quite what she was going for, but it seemed to be working. Two demons dropped dead from the initial attack, but the other three seemed to be doing just fine, blocking and dodging the assault.

She clicked her tongue and gathered the blood from the newly dead demons to form a larger pool of blood and more tentacles. She gathered a smaller puddle of blood and it crept towards her, forming a sword. She picked it up and rushed forward, stabbing a demon in the head, killing him.

The last two demons yelled and swung their weapons at her. Yuki swept her hand in front of her and the blood tentacles collapsed and formed a shield in front of her, blocking the attacks.

The demons seemed confused but regained themselves, this time retreating a little. The shield collapsed and reformed into the tentacles, gathering around Yuki. One demon rushed forward and started attacking as fast as he could. It took half of the tentacles to block the attacks and the other half to counterattack. This demon soon followed his dead comrades and collapsed as a tentacle ran him through the chest.

The last demon, who had yelled 'Ambush', realized he was the only one and that a single demon had taken out his group of six lower A class. He was either dealing with an S class or above.

"Spare me!" he yelled, dropping his axe and shield. "I'll serve under you if you spare my life!"

Yuki faltered and frowned. "I don't want an underling."

"Please! Spare my life milady!" he begged.

* * *

Kurama watched as Yuki killed the demons in remarkably precise movements. It was good to know of her abilities and what she was capable of, but if it came down to it, would they be able to fight her? He watched the last demon beg for his life and how Yuki and her group of blood tentacles stilled. Was she considering his servitude? It seemed not, with her response and seemingly utter distaste at the notion. He started to his feet in shock as one of the bodies moved and grabbed a fallen sword. The begging demon grinned, and Yuki didn't seem to notice the demon behind her.

He watched as two of the tentacles whipped around and sliced through the sneaking demon, cutting him into three pieces. He watched as Yuki turned in shock a second later and watched her large blue eyes grow even larger at the sight. He watched the pieces fall to the ground and saw the horror in Yuki's face. The last demon, recovering from the surprise, saw the opening and grabbed his axe, charging at the much smaller demon. All the tentacles sliced through him and he fell to the ground in little chunks of bleeding flesh.

Those tentacles moved like a separate being, and probably were, if Yuki's shock said anything.

* * *

 _Ohhhh boy! Finally I get to show off female Yuki's power! Gosh, I love her ability. I actually wonder if I made it a little OP. I love OP characters and abilities. It's why I love Mondaiji Tachi's Izayoi so much. Also, I sort of came up with the demons' designs from Steven Universe and their weird fusion bodies. Like Malachite, Sugilite, or Sardonyx. Just not quite as big._

 _DFTBA!_


	14. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

 _Eeyyyy how's life? Sometimes I hate my writing style. I forget to write details and my writing can sound so stuttery and halting. Ugh. I write like I talk, which is to say, with a lot of "uh"s and run on sentences. Also I really love Mili's Unidentified Flavourful Object (UFO)? It's just so cute!_

* * *

Yuki watched the tentacles collapse into a pool of blood and tried not to think about how they moved on their own. There were more important things to worry about, seeing as Yusuke was running up with a big goofy grin.

"Not bad, man!" he clapped Yuki on the shoulder, making the demon stumble a little.

"Thanks," she responded, rubbing her shoulder. He hit her pretty hard.

The rest of the quartet eventually joined as Yusuke began to go off on how Yuki might be stronger than him and how it might be super fun to fight her. Yuki noticed that Kurama seemed deep in thought, a slight scowl gracing his normally calm features.

"We should be moving, not wasting our time here," Hiei ground out, getting the group's attention.

"Indeed," Kurama smiled and nodded. "Koenma sent us here with a mission and we best get it done."

"Right," Yusuke sobered up, his previously jovial face turned stony.

"To take me to a demon who may or may not kill us," Yuki mumbled under her breath.

* * *

It hadn't actually been hard to find where this "Mitsu" had been hiding. In fact, one might even call the whole hiding thing pointless, since the underground cave had an intimidating amount of youki just bursting out to the point where if someone were to miss it, they'd either be dead or ridiculously stupid. Even non-spiritual humans would avoid the area just from bad vibes. To put it simply, Yuki wasn't excited about going in. As she glanced at her bodyguards? Companions? They seemed to have similar sentiments.

"So... this is where the demon is?" Yusuke swallowed a lump in his throat.

Yuki felt like turning right the heck around and running. Consequences be damned. Despite what the strange voice had told her, she was definitely skeptical about the whole "don't worry Mitsu won't attack you" thing.

"So do we just jump in?" Yuki found herself asking.

"I would normally recommend hanging back and formulating a plan," Kurama paused. "But we don't really need to fight do we?"

"We just need to deliver this brat and make sure we don't die," Hiei finished the unspoken thought. "And as far as I care, the only thing we need to do is push her in and be done with it."

"How kind of you to care," Yuki mumbled.

"What was that?" the fire demon snarled at her.

Yuki didn't meet his glare.

"That's what I thought," he huffed, satisfied.

"But seriously, do we just leave her here?" Yusuke crossed his arms. "I feel like that's sort of... I dunno. It just feels like we're leaving this unfinished."

"I suppose you're right Yusuke," Kurama sighed. "We should at least make sure she's properly interrogated."

"If that actually happens, this will have been a good day," Yuki rubbed her hands together worriedly.

* * *

Despite the youki, the walk through the cave was rather pleasant. It was filled with softly glowing crystals of all colors that lit the way and made it seem more welcoming than it should've felt. Every once in a while, the group would spot small creatures. So far there had been hermit crabs with crystal shells and lizards that looked they were made of rock. Other than that, they hadn't encountered anything remotely dangerous looking.

Until Mitsu.

They had heard her before they saw her. Her voice echoed in their heads and caused an enormous amount of pain.

" _ **GET OUT**_ ," she screamed straight into their minds. " ** _GO AWAY_ _!_** "

Even Hiei, the resident Jagan user (whom Yuki thought should be resistant to mental attacks) was holding his head and squeezing his eyes shut.

"Fuck!" Yusuke swore. "What the hell is that?"

" _ **LEAVE!**_ " Mitsu screamed again.

"My interrogator, I'd assume!" Yuki yelled over the noise.

"What!" Yusuke yelled. He hadn't heard her.

Instead of repeating herself, Yuki focused on calling to Mitsu with her mind. Maybe that would work better. Jagan users were like telepaths, right?

 _Mitsu! Please stop this! We don't mean you harm! Mitsu!_

The screaming in Yuki's head stopped.

 _Who are **you**?_

Yuki glanced at the other three. They were still clutching their heads and grimacing.

 _I was sent here by Koenma. He wants you to interrogate me._

Mitsu was silent for a moment. _The Spirit World Ruler wants **my** help? Me, a demon?_

 _I guess so._

 _What is **wrong** with you? You feel wrong._

Yuki scrunched her face. _Wrong with me? What are you talking about?_

 _You don't feel right. You feel evil. I don't want you anywhere near me._

 _No please! Just go through my memories or whatever you do! And maybe stop screaming at the people with me. Please._

Again, Mitsu went silent. Yuki saw her memories being played in fast forward. She saw her childhood, she saw the martial arts classes, the violin classes, the extra lessons, and school. She saw her parents, her mother cooking food, then an argument, and then a movie played on the theatre screen. She watched her last moments of walking on the street and hearing two gunshots then feeling pain in her chest. She watched as the memory looked down at her chest and fell to the ground. She saw the white expanse where she talked to the voice and then everything was cut off.

 _Mitsu?_ Yuki called.

 _That's why you felt wrong. You're in a body that isn't yours._

 _Uh, yep._

 _It's not something that should happen. You need to go back to your original body._

 _I died, you saw that._

 _Then you should go to hell or heaven. You shouldn't be in a physical body. It goes against nature and could do irreversible damage to your soul._

 _What?_

 _You heard me. That bastard brought you here. You shouldn't exist now._

 _'That bastard'?_

 _The one who talks to you in the white world. You shouldn't trust him._

 _Why?_

 _He stole from me. He's tried to kill me. And he's sent you here with that intention._

 _No! He hasn't! Really! Finishing looking at my memories! I promise he never told me anything like that!_

Mitsu went through Yuki's memories until she came up to where they had stood at the cave entrance.

 _Follow the blue crystals. Your friends are blinded for a short while._

And then Mitsu's voice was gone. Yuki looked around and saw the other three shaking their heads and trying to re-orient themselves. Yuki figured that they wouldn't even notice her leaving.

* * *

Yuki followed the blue crystals that shone much more brightly than the rest. She watched the crystals increase in number and walked down a cramped path. Eventually, the path opened up into a huge underground lake.

 _You've arrived._

Yuki looked across the water where there was a piece of land right in the middle. A large shape sat half in the water and half on the shore of the tiny island.

"Mitsu," Yuki greeted.

The shape slid into the water and swam over to the shore where Yuki stood. As Mitsu pulled herself out of the water, Yuki could finally see what she was. Mitsu seemed to be half mermaid, and half harpy. She was three times Yuki's size, and her arm wings took up at least 2/3 of Yuki's view, barely leaving any background to peep through. Her lower half was that of a fish, but her upper half was female and feathered. She was bald and wore a strip of black cloth over where her regular eyes should have been. On her forehead was a glowing blue eye. Her stomach was bulging and heavy with what Yuki assumed to be a child.

"You really are pregnant."

Mitsu nodded. _It is in my nature to seclude myself during my term. It is rare for us to successfully have children, although you know that already._

Yuki nodded. "So um..."

 _You came here to be interrogated by me, correct? If that is truly the case, then I suppose I should allow your friends to see._

"Um, you mean like show them my memories?"

 _Correct._

"Is it possible to leave out the whole 'I'm from another world/universe' thing?"

 _Why?_

"I just... it feels like it would be a pain to explain... and I'm just really lazy and I hate those kinds of things so yeah..."

 _I see. I suppose I could leave it out, but whatever happens as a consequence is for you to deal with._

"Yeah, understandable."

 _Are you ready, then? For your mind to be thrown bare to those three?_

"Uh, sure, I guess."

 _You're quite the vague little child._

"Just, hurry up please."

* * *

It didn't take long for Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei to make it down to the underground lake.

"Whoa," was the first thing out of Yusuke's mouth. "What the hell."

"I was unaware such a place was down here," Kurama hummed.

Hiei was as silent as always.

 _Hello Spirit World lackeys,_ Mitsu grinned, showing off sharp blue teeth.

"Oh my god, that is weird," Yusuke winced. "Are you actually talking to us, cuz I don't see your lips moving."

 _I'm speaking with my mind. My kind doesn't have the vocal capacity to effectively communicate with you._

"We're not Koenma's lackeys, either," Hiei spat. "Get it right."

Mitsu turned her enormous body to face the fire demon. _Is that so? Forgive me, I assumed you were running errands for them, considering how pathetically weak you are._

Hiei seemed to bristle at that. "I am more than capable of killing a half dead excuse for a demon."

Despite both the blindfold and the threat, Mitsu only arched an eyebrow and smiled. _Perhaps you could if you weren't so drained by that dragon in your arm._

"Ooh! She got you there!" Yusuke barked a laugh.

As Hiei began to draw his sword, Kurama stepped forward, stopping him.

"Mitsu is right, Hiei. It hasn't been nearly long enough for you to have fully recovered, so I suggest you step down before this becomes something we're likely to regret," the redhead flashed a warning look and the smaller demon took the hint.

 _Listen to the fox's words, little demon,_ Mitsu taunted. _He's liable to save your life._

"Mitsu, if you could just show them, please," Yuki butt in. "I'd like to prove my innocence and get out of here, and I'm sure you want us to leave so you can have your baby."

 _Very well,_ Mitsu turned back to Yuki. _This will only take a second._

* * *

Yuki's memories were just a little bit shocking. There wasn't anything beyond a few weeks before the Dark Tournament. Absolutely nothing. Yuki had never given any indication of being an amnesiac, except for maybe a little awkwardness and general unawareness of the Spirit World and Demon World, but if that was truly what she was, then many blanks began to fill in. She seemed clueless of her own abilities. She didn't know how demons worked. And most jarringly of all, she didn't even know Koenma or the detective.

"Wow, so you just woke up in a forest?" Yusuke asked, after the little show.

Yuki nodded.

"How did you figure out how to get to the Dark Tournament?" Kurama asked, still feeling a little unnerved.

She shrugged. "I just picked a direction and went. I met up with Toguro's team and just went with the flow."

Still peculiar.

"You just stayed for the fun of it?"

Another nod.

That didn't really seem to fit with how she acted. Yuki in general was a shy person, and seemed to prefer avoiding violence. From what little Yukina had told him, Yuki had been obedient in training with Genkai, rather soft spoken, and an introvert who didn't seem to like long conversations. Why had she stayed at the Dark Tournament?

 _Who are you, Yuki?_

* * *

 _Ahhhhh finally chapter 14 is dooooone. I have been working on this for a while. Mostly because for some reason, I couldn't get into the groove of writing. Like, nothing felt right (write, get it? haha) In any case, I finally got to write in Mitsu. I am in love with her design and how she looks. She's a half harpy lady half mermaid. Think mermaid but with wings and three eyes. And also ridiculously huge. Actually, I didn't intend for her to be huge, but a thought passed in my mind that was sort of like, "hey wouldn't it be funny if Mitsu was this giant gorgeous harpy mermaid thing that towered over everyone?" So... like the Great Fairies in Legend of Zelda. Yeah. Ok so I don't know if anyone got it, but Mitsu is sort of a pun. It's supposed to be short for Mitsume (which means three eyes) and I just thought it would be funny if her name was Mitsu because of it._

 _On a side note, am I the only person who gets super angry when Japanese writers use the four saint beasts? It's just... really overused. I originally heard of it in Fushigi Yuugi (oh man that show was my jam when I was little alongside Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon) and then it popped up in Yu Yu Hakusho (that was only my 2nd time seeing it and I was so happy because I was reading it and I understood and it was like I was privy to this inside joke) and now all of a sudden I'm seeing it all over. I was just reading this BL light lovel called Villain Days and then I saw this character called Seiryu. And I have no idea why, but I just kind of snapped? I was like, "Jesus Christ there better not be a whole four characters named after the four saint beasts" and goddammit there was. Fucking. C'mon. Ok, I get it, it's super easy to use and I know names are hard to come up with, but goddammit. I just sort of see it as this super overused trope like the "Chosen One" trope and I don't actually hate it I'm just a little frustrated with how often I see it._

 _Oh god that was long. I'm so sorry._

 ** _NEXT TIME: THREE, FOUR, OPEN THE DOOR_**

 ** _DFTBA!_**


	15. Three, Four, Open the Door

Chapter Fifteen

* * *

 _I love hiatus', don't you? Just kidding, I hate 'em just as much. Anyway, I was playing Borderlands 2 and was in Lynchwood doing a mission and while I was walking around, there was a bandit that shot at me and I swear to Jesus Fucking Christ, it was Chuck Huber's voice. I ran around town, chasing the bandit, to try and get him to talk again, but he wouldn't say another line so I ended up killing him when I got fed up (it had been like 10 minutes). So I looked online and apparently Chuck Huber did lots of voices for Borderlands 2 and I didn't even recognize any? So I spent the next 30 minutes teleporting around the maps to find out the voices he did (I only managed to get to hear Mick Zaford's voice since that was the only one I hadn't killed haha) I heard the other voices by watching YouTube videos but like, I was so disappointed with myself, man._

 _I've also been playing a lot of Show by Rock... oops... Demon's Venom is the best band fightme_

* * *

Yuki was waiting for the three others to stop thinking when Mitsu started talking to her again.

 _What do you make of their silence?_

She looked up at the enormous demoness and shrugged.

 _I'm not sure, but it's probably not going to be great for me in the long run._

 _Do you want to tell them everything now?_

 _No, not really. Too lazy. And I'm pretty sure it'd just get even worse._

Mitsu shifted and stopped talking. Yuki was pretty sure Kurama's eyes widened for a second, but it was hard to tell when it was so dark. Not to mention, it could just be the water's reflection, or a weird shadow. Nope, she was sure he twitched.

 _You didn't just tell them about me, did you Mitsu?_

Yuki was very much _not_ expecting the response.

 _Tell 'them' what?_

Despite the lack of sound, Yuki could _feel_ the contempt and scorn the message contained. It was low and terrifying, sticking in her mind with a ferocity an invading thought probably shouldn't be able to do. She managed to control herself before replying.

 _That I prefer doing my masturbating as a guy._

There wasn't anything from Hiei's end, so she figured he got grossed out. The barely audible sound of fabric shifting off to the far side of Mitsu reinforced that. She heard Kurama snicker for a split second before clearing his throat.

"Well, since we've made the trip safely and interrogated Yuki, I would hope that it's time to return back to the Human World," he started, clapping his hands together to wake up Yusuke.

 _When did he fall asleep?_ Yuki wondered, mildly impressed but also worried.

"Oh thank god," Yusuke yawned. "I'm exhausted for some reason."

 _That would be an effect of using your brain too much,_ Mitsu replied.

"Hey!" Yusuke glared at Mitsu. "I may be dumb, but I know an insult when I see one, you big dumb bird... thing!"

Mitsu seemed to enjoy taunting people. The demoness laughed, actually laughed, at Yusuke's comeback. It was a weird sound, a mixture of a bird warbling and a drowning cat.

"That is a goddamn weird laugh," Yusuke grimaced when Mitsu stopped.

"Don't make fun of someone's laugh," Yuki snapped, not able to stop herself in time. Yusuke held up his hands in surrender.

"Yes, well, we should be going," Kurama smiled. "I believe Koenma is waiting for the report."

* * *

Yuki was glad to be back in the Human World. It just seemed easier to breathe. Not to mention, red skies were straining her eyes. Genkai, Yukina, and Koenma waited a few feet away.

"Well?" Koenma was the first to ask.

"I believe it would be best to talk in a more private location," Kurama responded, walking up to Genkai. "Do you mind if we use your temple?"

"Go ahead," she grunted and turned to where the pale demon stood.

"Yuki!" she barked.

The white haired demon trotted up to the shorter woman and looked down expectantly. Genkai threw a punch almost immediately that Yuki barely dodged. The elderly woman followed up with a kick that Yuki barely dodged again. Just as Yuki was about to jump out of the way of another punch, the world shifted and she found herself lying on the ground, completely paralyzed. She looked up at the old woman, then to Kurama, and finally to Yukina.

"Wha-" she started, before getting cut off by Genkai.

"She won't be able to move for at least an hour," she told Kurama. "Good enough?"

"It'll have to do, I suppose. We'll just have to be quick," he replied, leaning down and pulling something out of his hair. "I apologize for this."

Yuki felt her hair being moved out of the way and a sharp prick on the back of her neck. The small pain suddenly exploded throughout her neck, quickly spreading to her chest, then her arms, waist, legs, and feet.

* * *

Yuki was taken into the temple and moved into a room deep inside.

"I guess the interrogation didn't go so well," Koenma was the first to speak.

"Afraid not," Kurama shook his head, watching Yuki with cold green eyes.

Yuki lay on the wood floor, mostly confused but starting to grow angry. Had she been calm, she would have noticed the cold murderous anger was foreign, but it had already mixed in with her own, much less murderous anger.

"What the _fuck,_ " she growled, her voice getting deeper as the body switched from female to male.

"It doesn't look like the old hag's bindings are going to last an hour, guys," Yusuke's face took on a worried look.

Kurama didn't even get a chance to reply before Yuki punched a hole in the floor. He punched another hole with his other fist, dragging himself to his feet. Kurama pulled out a human shaped plant and squeezed. Yuki barely registered the connection between the sudden squeezing pain in his midsection and Kurama squeezing the plant, but once he got it, he rushed at the redhead, arms outstretched.

* * *

Yuki's arms went flying off into separate places of the small room. Kurama watched the demon's now sickly green eyes dart to his attacker. Hiei had managed to get in front of Kurama, severing Yuki's arms and effectively stopping the attempt at the fox's life.

"Try that again and it'll be your head," Hiei growled, his sword stopped just short of Yuki's neck.

The white haired demon's mouth hung open ever so slightly, as if he wasn't all there, and then he stiffly straightened up. He stared blankly at Hiei, red staring down green.

"Who-?" he was cut off as something shot through the side of his head.

Yuki, now with a giant hole in his head, fell to the floor, motionless. Both Hiei and Kurama looked down in shock at the demon's still body, blood and brains leaking out of the gaping hole.

"I-I" they heard Koenma stammer. "I don't know what came over me."

"There's no point worrying over it now," Kurama sighed, still a little shaken. "What's done is done."

He started to walk over to Yuki's body but Hiei stopped him. "Look."

Kurama watched in horror as the blood started to rise up into the air.

"How the hell do you fight blood?!" Yusuke screeched, obviously and understandably perplexed.

The severed arms that had flown off to separate parts of the room were dragged bloody ends first towards the lifeless body that lay on the floor. The blood dragged the limbs to the stumps and began to gently reattach them. As some of the blood did that, the rest began to repair the hole in the side of the head. Kurama vaguely registered Yusuke vomiting in the corner as piece by piece, gore was meticulously put back in place by thin ropes of bright red blood. If one was so inclined, you could probably ace a test on brains after watching this.

 _Fox._

Hiei's voice rung in his head and brought the redhead out of his thoughts.

 _Yes, Hiei?_

 _Have you ever seen anything like this before?_

It sounded like Hiei was either genuinely grossed out, or genuinely freaked out. Both of which did not happen. Period.

 _...I have not._

Kurama would have liked to have an answer. Problems were easiest to deal with when you already knew a solution. Multiple solutions, preferably. But this one didn't. Not even one. He wasn't even sure where to start. He supposed that immortal beings were about as easy to kill as one might expect, but this... he felt this wasn't immortal. Whatever this was, it definitely wasn't divine. It wasn't even demonic, although a human might say otherwise. It was an abomination that shook him to his very core and they were going to die.

* * *

 _I feel like the song Abstract Nonsense sums up Melody's existence pretty well. If any of you are into listening to music for that kind of thing, give it a listen. And if anybody knows any high action/hardcore rock with violins that would be great._

 _NEXT TIME: AGGRAVATION, IRRITATION_

 _DFTBA!_


End file.
